


Crimson Waters

by Hvalross



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Betrayal, Drama, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff, Modern, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Romance, Suicidal Thoughts, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-05-05 08:29:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 41,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14614092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hvalross/pseuds/Hvalross
Summary: After the death of her brother, Kenmei began to feel like there was nothing else left for her, until she meets a special creature from the depths of the ocean. A snarky, curious being by the name of Judar, who completely steals her heart and quells the pain inside of her. But, all is not well, with an abusive father who will do anything for money. Judar x Kenmei (OC) Modern / Fantasy Mermaid themed AU.





	1. The Void

Warm and comforting was the water in her bath, pale green eyes locked on the torrent spilling out of the faucet near her feet. Absentmindedly, she lifted her left foot out from below the surface of the churning water, allowing the flow to fall directly onto her toes. She thought for a moment if the force of it would chip the blue nail polish, but immediately denounced this thought as ridiculous. The water pressure wasn’t even that high, and she found herself shaking her head at herself for thinking something so stupid. _I must be exhausted… to think water like that could chip my nail polish._ With another small shake of her head, she reached her foot up and pushed the lever of the faucet back into the wall, halting the flow of water to nothing but sporadic drops.

Lowering her foot back down, the rest of her body sunk with it, until the clear water reached right below her chin. Her mind and body exhausted, she gazed upon the rippling form of her nude body, slowly coming to the realization that she did not put any soap in her water for bubbles. Turning her head to the right a bit, she saw the bottle sitting on the edge of the white tub. As she gazed upon it, the contents hidden by the thick peach colored bottle, she couldn’t help but to think it almost looked emaciated. Its middle section was sunken in, and the opening of the bottle, which had lost its cap long ago, even tilted to one side slightly.

The depressing sight of the bottle reminded her of how she felt, hollow and starving. Slowly, and with what she felt could be her last bit of strength, she reached for the bottle. Though, just as she expected, it was nearly as light as a feather, almost falling from her thin fingers. “Empty,” she spoke with a hoarse, strained voice. “I should have known.” She brought it down under the water, submerging it. As if struggling for air, bubbles poured from it as it filled up with water, and a small amount of soap suds began to rise. Once full, she brought the now full bottle out from the water, taking a moment to straighten the squished plastic along the middle.

With some hope that there would be a little soap left over, she sat up more out of the warm water, placing one palm over the mouth of the bottle to block the contents. Taking a moment to shake it up, she began to feel emotional, praying that there would be at least a decent amount of bubbles to soothe her senses. Swallowing the lump beginning to build in her throat, she tilted the bottle and allowed it to spill back into the tub. Only a few soap suds littered the pristine surface of the water, and the relaxing lavender scent was nothing but a faint hint, fighting against the musty smell of the bathroom. With a sudden influx of emotions that she could not control, she squeezed the bottle before throwing it at the wall with a cry of frustration. The bottle, after hitting the stale white of the wall, fell clattering to the bathroom floor, leaving a trail of water and suds behind it, like bloodstains from a murder victim.

Sobbing and hiccupping, the frustrated girl pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs tightly. Her freckled cheek pressing into the similarly freckled knees, she kept her eyes clenched shut tightly, fighting to control her emotions. More than anything, she wanted to hear his voice call to her from outside of the bathroom. Instead, she heard another, so similar and yet so completely different, nearly on the verge of growling at her.

“Kenmei, what the fuck was that? What are you doing in there, wasting all the damn water!”

Lifting her head up from her knees, Kenmei strained to speak behind her need to continue crying, the trembling in her body shaking her voice. “It’s n-nothing, Dad! J-just leave me alone for a while!” Her head resting back on her knees, she felt her stomach churn as she heard him sigh, curses following him down the hallway with his loud footsteps. That man, all of this was his fault in the first place. He had given up on him, allowing him to die without any effort or care from his end, just like her mother years before. Now, with no brother, no mother, she was left to the mercy of this man who would not dare to call her daughter. No, she was just the burden, as he had always treated her.

It was as if all the color in the world had vanished with her brother’s death, following him to the afterlife. There was no happiness or love to be found in this prison, the large and lavish modern wealthy family home felt as if it were made of ice. Since her mother passed away, her father had thrown every single memory of her away. Any furniture she had bought, pictures that brought life to the home, or mementos that had once meant the world to her were gone. Now, he was doing the same with her brother’s things, and she could hear him shuffling about in the room across the hall.

Kenmei had tried to stop him. She had done her best to protect her brother’s belongings while he was in the hospital. But, now that he was gone, she had no power against her father, and everything was being disposed of.

‘You can’t keep anything,’ he had told her. ‘There is no point, he’s not here to use this shit anymore, it’s all going in the garbage.’

‘But it’s his memories!’ Kenmei had tried to argue, crippled on the floor clutching discarded clothing. She remembered distinctly that they still smelled like him. ‘Just let me keep a few of Kendai’s things, please!’

She could still remember the feeling of the clothing being yanked from her hands, and the stab to her chest as she heard the fabric rip from the force. Though that had been a few days ago, the pain from her father’s selfishness and cruelty was still heavy on her mind and it collided with the feeling of loss. It was a hopeless, lonely feeling, and she found herself wishing she could get away from it all. But, she knew that was not possible. She felt as if she would be suffering forever, and as the pain peaked, a numbness fell over her body.

Still hiccupping as her body tried to recover from sobbing, she slowly began to sink herself down into the now lukewarm water. She stopped once she was floating on her back, her black hair beginning to free itself from the loose bun she had it in. It touched her face gently, moving with the water to create a ring around her face, which was the only piece of her body still protruding from its surface. Though the hair tickled the skin of her cheeks, every inch of her body felt numb, and she felt as if she were floating in nothingness, as if she were in a void.

The void. What a pleasurable thought, to fall into nothingness where there would be no thoughts, no pain, no regret. No anything. Closing her strained eyes, she took in a shallow breath and sunk herself beneath the water’s surface. Almost immediately, she felt at peace, the silent pressure on her ears soothing her frantic thoughts. Instead, she could hear the soft sound of her mother’s voice singing to her, her brother’s laughter, the melody of her favorite song, and even the soothing rumble of the ocean. As her mind began to drift, she even thought she could feel the water rumbling with the sound, and a cold chill began to wrap itself around her.

Suddenly, as the chill reached her face, she became aware of a pressure on her feet and she panicked, feeling a rush of sharp pain as she sucked in water through her mouth and nose. She began to feel dizzy, and though her arms reached through the surface of the water, she felt as if she couldn’t pull her body up. There was no pressure holding her down, but her disorientation and the burning in her lungs pushed away any rational thought. Flailing, she felt her elbow hit hard against the edge of the tub, and the sudden sharp pain made her realize what position she had been in. Gripping at the slick surface, she forced herself up out of the water, gasping loudly as she struggled to get air back into her lungs.

Coughing and struggling to calm herself, she leaned over the edge of the tub, the deep, raspy hacking bringing up water from her lungs and stomach. As her mind began to settle, she could feel an awful chill around her and noticed in the moment that water was spilling over the edge of the tub. Looking over, she saw that the faucet was running at full force on the coldest setting. Still coughing, she reached over and quickly turned it off before reaching down and pulling the plug from the drain. Letting it fall to the bottom of the tub, she rested herself against the edge, still wheezing and feeling as if she were going to vomit.

She had almost made it to the void, but that cold water had pulled her back. Moving to hug herself as the water reached her hips, she stared at the faucet in confusion. What had happened to turn that on? Had she kicked it with her foot on accident? She could not comprehend what may have caused it, but if she was honest with herself, she was angry. No matter the cause, it had pulled her from bliss, and now she was trapped once again in this cold, loveless home. With a sigh, she pulled herself back over to look at the floor, noticing that water was everywhere.

Mopping it up with her father yelling at her was not exactly an attractive option at this point, but she knew she had no other choice.

Though, sitting there until it dried on its own didn’t seem like such a bad idea, either.


	2. What's Up, Human?

As Kenmei traveled down the road at a slow walking pace, her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of fog around her face. After a moment, she realized that it was from her own breath warming the chilled air and she calmed, having been so startled in that moment that she stopped walking. Taking in a few deep breaths, she pulled her coat around her body tighter, ignoring the new clouds that billowed around her face. Glancing around, she started to become aware of her surroundings, starting to wonder just how far she had walked. As her foot shifted a bit, the loose gravel beneath her feet crunched, confirming that she had reached a dirt road. 

In her daze, she had reached the countryside, a small farm area right outside of her hometown. It was dusk, the green land and hills bathed in a soft orange light, bringing a warmth to the chilled air. Though she wanted to recognize the brilliant colors of the evening, everything just seemed cold and grey. As a gust of wind came by, it pushed her hood off her head, disrupting her still damp, thick hair. Reaching up to fix it, she felt a bit of surprise that it was still wet. The cold, she assumed, was preventing it from drying, even after the few hours she had spent walking around outside. 

‘Don’t ever go outside with wet hair in the cold,’ she could hear her mother scolding her. ‘You’ll get sick.’ 

Heeding the imaginary warning, she pulled her hood back up over her head, careful not to pull the earphones out of her ears. The soft piano music that filled her mind eased her erratic thoughts, and she knew if the buds left her ears, she would lose what little control she had on her emotions. She had already been fighting with herself to not go near the cliff that was just across the road, fearful of what her fragile mind may decide to do in the moment. So, with the gravel crunching beneath her feet, she continued to make her way down the road. 

After her bath, she had gone through a huge fight with her father about the water that had spilt on the bathroom floor. Furious, he had demanded that she clean it, with nothing but a towel, and she refused. Instead, she had gotten dressed and left, with no desire to return. At this point, she knew it wouldn’t matter to him if she came back or not. It would be one less burden on him. He could sell the house, or get a new wife that would pamper him, cook for him and sleep with him whenever he demanded. In her twenty years of life, Kenmei had never once see him share an ounce of love for another person, and she had doubts that any woman would want him. 

But, he had money, and for many women, that’s all they cared about. With no one in the way, he could do as he pleased.  _ Maybe I should just give him what he wants,  _ she thought to herself behind the soft melody in her ears.  _ Why should I stick around if the rest of my family is gone? No job, no friends, no goals. The ocean is right over there, after all….  _ Teary eyes looked towards the cliff, watching the grass sway in the breeze right on the edge of oblivion. As if drawn by some unknown force, she began to walk towards it, clenching her hands tightly in her pockets as they began to shake. She stopped as she reached the edge, gazing out upon the orange tinted waters of the ocean. 

Though the scent of salt was always in the air, it was almost overwhelming on the edge of the cliff. The breeze was stronger, and it chilled the exposed skin of Kenmei’s face, chilling the single tear that had escaped from her eyes. Slowly, she tore her eyes away from the horizon to look down, making her stomach swelling with nausea and her mind growing dizzy. It was a long way down, too long for her to calculate. But, the waves crashed against the jagged rocks of the shore, and Kenmei knew death was certain for anyone who fell from here. Panic building within her, she took a few steps back, her entire body trembling. 

It was just too frightening. What was she thinking? How could she possibly throw herself off a cliff like that? Beginning to breathe heavily in her panic, she ran, following the edge of the cliff as she sobbed. She wasn’t sure how long she ran for, but time came to a sudden halt as the front of her shoe caught into a chunk of grass. Falling flat onto her stomach, she gasped loudly as the air was forced from her lungs, wincing at the feeling of a rock or lump of dirt dug uncomfortably into her stomach. With a defeated groan, Kenmei rolled over onto her back, bringing a hand up to rest on her chest as she took in deep breaths. 

‘You’re such a klutz, Mei! You’re always falling over, you should be more careful,’ the voice of her brother scolded her. ‘Here, let me help you up.’

She opened her eyes to stare up at the clouds, waiting for the help that would never come. The light from the setting sun starting to become more scarce, the clouds above began to darken, as if imitating her sadness. Sniffling, her nose nearly frozen from the cold wind, she forced herself to sit up, glancing around a bit. As she calmed from the fall, she noticed that her music had stopped. Odd, she thought, as she could have sworn she could still hear singing. 

_ But, my music doesn’t have any singing…  _ Confused, she reached up and ripped the headphone buds out of her ears, listening closely. Sure enough, even without the earphones in, she swore she could hear a faint song. Even more bizarre, it was not a woman’s voice. It was quite the handsome voice of a man, and as she listened, she felt her cheeks begin to grow warm. It was an attractive voice, to be sure, and she began to grow curious as to where it was coming from. Very few people lived out here, and in all her times walking, she had never heard it before. 

Carefully and quietly, she stood, beginning to look around for the source of the voice. The wind made it difficult for her to pinpoint the location, as it swirled around her and made it seem like it was coming from every direction. Her attention was grabbed by a cough, as if someone were clearing their throat, and the soft sound of regular frustrated speaking. With this, she realized that the voice was coming from over the cliff and she quickly made her way over to it. 

Being sure to keep good hold of her balance, she looked out over the edge, noticing that she was much closer to the water than she had been before. In her earlier panic, she didn’t realize that she had run downhill, but now it became obvious to her why she had fallen like that. Kenmei didn’t have much time to dwell on this, however, as she heard what sounded like a loud yawn, pulling her attention down to the right side of the cliff. There was a small alcove off to this side, where the water was calm. The rocks were more spread out, and there was even a small beach area made from what looked like pebbles. 

Curious, she walked closer, continuing down the hill slowly. She still could not see anyone, but she had not seen anyone leave the area either, so she assumed they hadn’t left. Suddenly, as the singing began again, she stopped, feeling her chest flush with heat. It was obvious, now, that the voice was coming from within that small beach area, and she needed to figure out how to get down there. Swallowing her nerves, she moved closer to the edge, looking down into the calm waters below. She thought that she saw a black mass in the water, but she could not be sure, as she was too high up to really be able to see. 

With her focus on the form in the water, she didn’t notice the rock under her feet beginning to give way until it was too late. She squealed loudly as it fell away, her body twisting in reflex as her torso slammed into the cliffside, only hanging on by her fingers dug into the dirt and rock. Kicking her legs in a frantic attempt to find a steady rock to step onto, she could hear a voice calling to her and she turned her head the best she could, looking down over her shoulder. 

The black mass she had been looking at before was now facing her, pale skin with surprised crimson eyes staring up at her. The black, she realized, had been hair, as it floated around the shoulders of the person and sprouted from the top of their head with no stylistic effort. “Hey! What the fuck are you doing?” Kenmei could recognize the voice as the one who had been singing, but his speaking voice was different. It sounded off, as if he had a subtle accent that she couldn’t quite put a finger on. Her thoughts were pulled from her as she began to slip, trying to pull herself up. “I-I’m falling!” 

Her heart and mind began to race, her feet slipping from each rock she tried to step on. They were wet and slippery from the ocean air, and the grass was starting to give way to her grip. At this height, she knew she would either severely injure herself or die if she fell.   _ Would that really be so bad?  _ The thoughts returned to her, slowing her panicked attempts to save herself.  _ That man down there, he wouldn’t be able to help me… I just need to let go.  _ Tears began to fall as she stared at her hands, feeling them beginning to grow numb.  _ If I just let go, I can be with them. I won’t have to be alone like this anymore.  _

Her fingers beginning to release their grip, her mind was pulled back at the sound of the man's voice below her, turning back to look down at him again. “Hey, are you jumping on purpose?” Kenmei grew confused, her heart leaping as her right foot finally fell steady on a rock. “W-what? No, no I slipped!” She had to face back forward, the strain on her neck making her dizzy. Still, she listened to his voice, feeling oddly comforted by it. 

“I’d rather not be a witness to you dying. If you want to fall, then tell me so I’ll leave.” 

Kenmei felt her panic rise again, forcing that empty numbness into submission. “N-no, I don’t want to fall! You have to help me!” Trying to control herself so she wouldn’t start crying, she tried to focus on finding another spot for her still dangling left foot. 

“Ugh, humans are a pain… Look, just drop down from the cliff three-ish feet, you’ll land on another patch of grass that will support you.” 

“Humans?” Kenmei repeated his odd phrasing, trying to look down to see this patch he was talking about. “What do you mean humans?” 

“Just shut up and fall already!” 

Taking in a deep breath, Kenmei clenched her eyes shut tightly, slowly beginning to lower herself down. Once she could no longer hold on, she released her grasp on the cliff, screaming as she fell. Though her terror was short lived, as she landed onto a patch of land that, just as he had said, supported her easily. Her entire body trembling, she looked back down at him, noticing him glower up at her with intense annoyance. “You’re going to leave now, right? You’re kind of interrupting my alone time.” Kenmei could only stare down at him in shock, his rudeness completely baffling her. 

“Excuse me? How can you be so rude to someone who almost just died?” She pointed up at the top of the cliff, matching his glare. The man shrugged, his hair falling around his shoulders at the movement. “It doesn’t matter to me. The way you were acting, it seemed like you wanted to jump. You were hardly trying to pull yourself up at all.” He began to move backwards a bit, his hair trailing behind him on the surface of the water like it was a creature of its own. Kenmei leaned back against the cliff wall, her chest still heaving with panicked breaths. “You could have tried to come up and help me.” 

The man below began to laugh, a cocky sound that filled Kenmei with irritation. Could this really have been the person singing before? She wasn’t sure, but she did know she was growing upset with him, this stranger that was laughing at her misfortune. Carefully, she began to stand, noticing that there was a small path that led down to the pebbled beach below. Beginning to make her way down, she was intent on confronting him, and also thanking him for helping her. 

“Hey! Don’t come any closer!” 

His threat stopped her, and she almost lost her balance, having to grip onto a root sticking out of the cliff to stay on the path. “W-what?” Her gaze moved back down to him, noticing him staring up at her warily. He seemed as if he were ready to take off at any second, and he was much further out from the beach than he had been before. Kenmei shook her head, continuing her advancement. “I-I just want to say something to you.” The man grumbled, and she could feel his eyes on her. “Uh, you can’t say it from there?” 

“N-no!” Kenmei gasped as she almost slipped again but was able to keep herself steady. “I need to be on solid ground, just give me second.” The man snickered, obviously taking some joy in seeing her struggle. “Legs suck, huh?” Kenmei thought she noted a tone in his voice in that question that did not express familiarity, but instead ignorance. “U-uhm…” She was caught off guard by such a question, finally reaching the pebbled beach. “I suppose they can sometimes.” She looked back out at him, noticing that he was still quite a ways from the beach. 

His gaze on her was still cautious, and his hair seemed to surround him like a shield. He bobbed with unnerving ease in the water, as if he didn’t struggle at all to keep himself afloat. Kenmei assumed that he was just standing, not wanting to look too deeply into something she was probably misunderstanding. She stopped as she reached the edge of the water, nervously fixing her coat that had become displaced during her ordeal. “I just wanted to say thank you… For helping me.” The man kept his blank stare on her for a while before he shrugged. 

“You’re welcome, I guess. What are you doing out here, anyways?” He began to float off to the side again, but the water never came up any higher or lower from his collarbone. Kenmei watched him for a moment, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Well… I was just out for a walk and I thought I heard someone singing, so I grew curious. Was that you?” She gave a quiet gasp at how quickly he stopped, watching as his face flushed violently red, almost matching the color of his eyes as he stared at her. He coughed loudly a few times, a hand coming up out of the water to wave at her dismissively as he turned his back to her. 

“N-no, no, that wasn’t me, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” 

Kenmei couldn’t help a small smile from spreading across her face, finding his bashfulness quite cute. “Oh, I see. If you say so.” She stood in silence for a moment, contemplating her next questions. 

“If I may ask… Why are you out here in the water when it’s nearly freezing?”


	3. A Curious Friend

“Huh?” The man in the water turned back around to face her, his face still flushed with embarrassment. “Oh, well…” He took a moment to blow some stray hair out of his face, though it fell back into the same place, and only ended up messier than before. “Swimming is my… passion, I guess you could say.” He flashed a cheeky grin at her. Kenmei could have sworn he had oddly shaped or pointed teeth, but she couldn’t tell, eyesight obscured by the distance between them. Kenmei shifted her weight to her other foot, only growing more curious by the second. “Where are you from? You have an odd accent…” 

He took a moment to lean his head back, wetting his hair so he could smooth it back away from his face. “I, uh… I can’t say.” He eyed her suspiciously again, and Kenmei could tell he was growing uncomfortable with her questions. “I see. I’m sorry for asking so many questions, I’m just… curious.” The man shrugged and began to make his way a bit closer to shore. “Not a big deal, you’ll most likely never see me again after this, so I don’t care. Now that you’ve found me here, I have to find another place to hang out. Such a pain.” 

Beginning to feel a bit tired and weak from her previous excursion, Kenmei sat down on the pebbles, ignoring the wet feeling soaking through her dark jeans. “Why’s that?” The man sighed, flicking some water at nothing as he continued to float around, following a random path. “I picked this place because I thought no one would notice me. I’m actually really annoyed that someone did.” He gave her a sideways glare and Kenmei frowned, hanging her head a bit as she hugged her knees to her chest. “Ah… I’m sorry. Your singing- I mean-” She caught herself as his face flushed again, not wanting to embarrass him more. “I mean, the singing I heard was just so beautiful, I really wanted to find it. I didn’t plan on falling…” 

She watched him as he sunk down in the water up to his flushed nose, his crimson eyes looking everywhere but at her. A breeze came through the small area and a chill shot down Kenmei’s spine, making her shiver. “Aren’t you worried about getting sick? Being in that cold water like that, you easily could.” He shook his head, lifting himself up out of the water just long enough to snap at her. “No.” With a small, defeated nod, she looked down at the pebbles beside her, reaching down to run her fingers through them a bit. They clattered softly beneath her fingers, and they were oddly comforting. 

“What’s your name?” 

Kenmei looked up at his voice, seeing that he was now much closer to the shore, his arms up out of the water and resting on what must have been a drop off. His chin resting on his arms, he stared at her with intense curiosity, and Kenmei felt her face flush hot from his gaze. He was no more than 10 feet from her, and she could clearly see the fairness of his features. Nearly flawless, he was one of the most handsome people she had ever seen, and she suddenly felt herself growing embarrassed in his presence. 

“M-my name?” She repeated, trying to confirm what he had asked in her flushed embarrassment. He narrowed his eyes at her in annoyance, obviously not pleased with having to repeat himself. “Yeah, your name. You know, the thing you’re called, the word your parents picked for you at birth.” A snarky smile crossed his face as he picked on her, his sarcasm only making her flush hotter. “I-I know what a name is!” Kenmei snapped back. “You’re such a rude person…” He rolled his eyes, huffing. “Uh, okay. At least I have enough manners to ask for your name before I ask you a shit ton of questions, yeah?” 

Kenmei’s frown returned and she shifted nervously in her spot, eyes falling back to her knees. “I suppose you’re right… I’m sorry. My name is Kenmei.” 

“Judar.” 

Fighting through her embarrassment, she looked back up at him, growing even more flustered at the fact that he was still staring at her. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for, or what he thought he could find just by watching her, but it began to make her feel quite uncomfortable. Clearing her throat a bit, she nodded, forcing a small smile onto her flushed face. “It’s nice to meet you.” Judar sighed, pushing himself away from the drop off, back into the water. “Yeah, I guess. What were you doing out here anyway?” 

It was like a switch had been turned back on in her mind, his question bringing back the emotions that had been hidden by her conversations with him. Unable to help it, she hugged her legs tighter to herself, sniffling as she tried to hold back the pain. And in that moment, she told him everything, from the death of her brother to the abuse of her father, and why she was out here, so far from home and so close to the cliffs. Judar was silent as she spoke, and Kenmei could only hope he was listening, though she couldn’t find it in herself to look up at him. By the time she was done, she was sobbing, hiding her face in her arms. 

After a while, she heard him sigh, and she forced her head up to look out at him. Judar had an expression that was difficult for Kenmei to read. It was a mix of boredom, concern, and realization, and he seemed like he was having trouble thinking of anything to say. After moving around in circles in silence for a bit, he came back over to the drop off, leaning his arms up on it again. “My parents and siblings are dead too. I was adopted by another family, but, you know… I get it.” He ran his fingers through his hair again, giving a shrug.

Kenmei frowned, reaching up to wipe her tears from her face. “I’m sorry…” Judar shook his head, looking at her with that intense stare again. “Don’t be. Not like it’s your fault. Maybe your people’s, but not yours directly.” He pushed himself away and began to move out into the deeper part of the pool again, and Kenmei became fearful that he was going to leave. “W-wait!” Her voice echoed in the confines of the small alcove, and Judar did indeed stop, looking back at her with mild annoyance. “What?” 

Words catching in her throat, she grew intensely embarrassed at her outburst, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth with her fingers. “I-... I’m sorry, it’s nothing. Are you leaving?” Judar grumbled, going back to the drop off. “I was. You want me to stay?” Kenmei felt her heart grow heavy, the thought of him leaving upsetting her greatly. “Well… Yes. But, how were you going to leave that way? It’s just open ocean?” Judar couldn’t help but to flash another grin at her, and Kenmei could now see that he did indeed have more pointed teeth than what was natural. “You’re a little dense, aren’t you?”

Confused by his words, Kenmei scooted a bit closer to the edge of the water, trying to observe him better. There were many things that the dim light from the setting sun had hidden from her that she could now see clearly in the moonlight. She swore she could see a red tint to his skin in certain places, such as his forehead and along the sides of his face. His shoulders, when not hidden by his hair, had a similar hue, but it seemed to be in thicker patches. The sound of him clearing his throat brought her attention back to his eyes, and it just now clickled to her that crimson eyes were not exactly a natural thing. 

His grin only grew and he pointed a finger at her. “Kenmei, was it? Where do you think I’m from?” He brought his hand back to himself, propping his head up with it as his elbow rested on the rock hidden beneath the water. He had such a cheery, smug expression that Kenmei felt herself flushing again, embarrassed by his gaze. “I don’t know… I don’t know what you are.” Judar blinked, his expression fading to one of confusion. “What I am? That’s not what I asked.” He flicked some water at her and she gave a small flinch away from it, a little surprised at the playful gesture. “W-well, I think it’s all the same in this case. Where you’re from and what you are.” 

With a small nod, Judar glanced around, as if thinking to himself. “Yeah, yeah, true.” A sly smirk crossed his face, moving both of his hands to rest flat against the rock. “Since I’m never coming back here, it seems fun to make you guess, and once you realize, it’ll probably drive you mad! At least, that’s the stories I hear. That humans who see us grow mad with curiosity. You seem like the curious type, yeah?” He lifted himself up out of the water a bit, until right below his chest was revealed to her. Her face flushing hotter, she quickly covered her eyes, struggling to speak. 

“W-what an awful thing to say! You’d think it would be funny to drive me crazy? It would scar me enough just to realize you’re naked in there!” She kept her face hidden as he began to laugh hysterically, the sound of water splashing following his voice. She assumed that he had fallen back into the water, so she removed her hands. Sure enough, he was back up in the water up to his chin, wheezing and snickering with laughter. “Damn, you’re such a weird girl. But, I’ll tell you if you wanna know. Like I said, you’re never going to see me again, it’ll be great.” Kenmei frowned, shifting her sitting position to be on her knees. 

Her somber expression immediately quelled his laughter and he glared up at her. “Tch, what’s with that face?” With a small shrug, Kenmei pulled her coat tighter around herself. “I was just thinking… What if I wanted to see you again? I don’t really care what you may or may not be… I suspect you’re human under that water and just playing a joke on me. Which, to be honest, I don’t mind.” Judar was silent as she spoke, his expression blank and unreadable as he bobbed in the water. 

“Do you think I could come see you again? Just once more? I think it will help me to feel better…” 

Judar continued to watch her closely, though his expression gave away his mild irritation. “I don’t really care about your emotions all that much. You’re just another human. But, your grief is strong. And I like the way you smell. So sure, I guess we can meet here again.” He was visibly startled as Kenmei began to laugh, narrowing his eyes at her. “What the fuck are you laughing at?” Kenmei shook her head as she continued to laugh, her face felt as if it were on fire, and her stomach churned with nausea as the joy and sadness fought for dominance in her core. 

“I-I smell good?” She struggled to speak between her laughter, noticing Judar’s cheeks flush behind the tears welling up in her eyes. “It’s a compliment!” He snapped at her, dunking himself back into the water up to right below his eyes in frustration. Unable to stop her laughter, she fell backwards to lay down in the pebbles, growing oddly comfortable as they gave way to her body, hugging her form. As she calmed, she closed her eyes, exhaustion beginning to fall upon her. “Thank you, I guess. I’m glad you think I smell good.” 

She heard the water as it was displaced by his movement, but she was too far gone to open her eyes or move a muscle. Her mind began to wander, to dreams of the void, her family, and creatures that lived in the depths of the sea. 


	4. Wounded

A soft warmth on Kenmei’s frozen nose woke her. Her foggy mind slowly being pulled from the depths of unconsciousness. Her entire body felt stiff, as if ice coated her skin, and she couldn’t even find the energy to pry her eyes open. Instead, she allowed her body to rest, soaking in the warmth she could feel spreading across her face.  _ The sun,  _ she assumed, her thoughts and senses finally reviving themselves from a restless night.  _ Did I really fall asleep out here?  _ Sounds began to register in her mind, calling birds and ocean waves obscuring a soft humming. 

_ Who’s humming?  _ She tried to force her eyes open to see, but her body would not allow her, her head only falling slightly to the side in reaction to her attempt. She felt as though it was coming from right next to her, only slightly aware of another presence sitting on the pebbles beside her. Behind the soft voice, she could hear the pebbles being moved rhythmically, as if something was being lifted and placed back down on them over and over. Listening to the melody, she began to feel herself drifting back off to sleep, her mind and body too exhausted to function. Still, she felt at peace, barely registering the fact that the singing suddenly stopped. 

Loud splashing and the sound of her name being called was the last thing that filled her mind as she slipped away, suffocated by darkness and cold. 

…

Kenmei woke with a start, gasping from shock as she was pulled from deep sleep by a nightmare. What the nightmare had been, she couldn’t recall, but she was coated in a cold sweat with her mind and heart racing violently. Bringing her hand up to clutch at her chest in her panic, she clenched her eyes shut tightly, having to use every bit of her energy to try and calm her breathing. After a moment of recovering, she flopped back to lay down, her head landing comfortably on her pillow. Her face scrunching up in confusion, she sat back up, looking around her. 

Somehow, she had gotten back into her bed, with many blankets piled on top of her. Her bedroom, while comforting with her belongings and warm with the rays of sun through the curtains, was still and quiet. In fact, she could not hear a single sound, except the buzzing of the electricity coursing through the walls of the house. There was nothing physical in the room to indicate how long she had been there, but the grimy feeling of her hair and the hunger pains in her stomach told her it had to have been more than a day. 

With trembling legs, she got out of bed, having to take a moment to lean on the wall to catch her breath. Her chest felt tight and congested, and she began to cough into her hand. It was a deep, raspy cough and she knew that she must have fallen ill. The last thing she could remember was falling asleep outside by the ocean, and it didn’t surprise her that it had made her sick. It was such a stupid thing to do, and yet it was something she hadn’t been able to control, having been so exhausted. 

_ But how did I get home?  _ She thought to herself as she began to make her way towards her restroom, needing to take a hot bath to warm herself and maybe even use the steam to clear her congestion.  _ Who had found me? I can’t remember. _

Settling into her hot bath water, Kenmei began to think about what had transpired before. Everything came to her easily, up until she had fallen asleep. “Judar,” she spoke aloud to herself. “Who was he… Or what was he…” Her speaking out loud brought on another coughing fit, and she sunk down into the water once it ran its course.  _ I wonder if he will really show up again, if I go to the same spot…  _

Kenmei became surprised that the only thing on her mind was this mysterious boy. The pain of losing her brother still lingered heavily in her heart, but the hope of seeing her new companion again eased it, even if just slightly. She hoped that he would keep his word and be there again, though she felt a bit discouraged at the fact that they hadn’t agreed upon a time or day. Still, what he had said to her made her laugh softly, and she could feel her face flush with embarrassment. 

‘You smell good,’ he had said to her. What an odd thing to say to someone. If it had been in a normal situation, such as out on the street or in line at a store, she would surely have freaked out. But, nothing about Judar was normal, and her curiosity about him was endless. He had been right to say that meeting him would drive her mad. Such a handsome person, with snarky wit and a warm gaze that melted the chill in her core. On top of that, his song echoed in her mind, and she could feel her stomach flutter at the thought of it. 

After her relaxing bath, Kenmei dressed herself and headed downstairs to get a bite to eat. Her pleasant mood was crushed by the presence of her father, sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop and paperwork piled around him. His golden brown eyes, soft and gentle in comparison to his demeanor and attitude, peered at her over the rim of his glasses as she entered. He quickly went back to his work, however, with no other physical attention given to her presence. 

“Finally awake, are you?” The sound of his keyboard followed his dull voice, and Kenmei wished she could just ignore him as she opened the refrigerator. “Yes. How long was I asleep for?” She covered her mouth with her sleeve as she began to cough again, turning her head away from the inside of the fridge. 

“It’s almost been twenty four hours. And for fuck’s sake, maybe don’t cough on the food? I’d rather not get sick, too.” His chair squeaked against the tile floor as he turned his torso slightly to look at her, but Kenmei did not bother to do the same. Instead, she grabbed what she needed and turned away, shutting the refrigerator door with her foot hard enough to make it slam and the containers on top of it to clatter. With a sigh, her father took his glasses off and put them onto the table, rubbing his face. “Watch that attitude, Kenmei.” 

Focusing on preparing her small salad with spinach, romaine, tomatoes, carrots, mandarins, cheese and a variety of nuts, she ignored him. Being in the same room as him was infuriating enough as it was, and the thought of talking to him made her nauseous. As the chair once again squeaked against the tile as he stood, she knew she was not going to have the luxury of silence, turning her head away as he came to stand next to her. Arms crossed and leaning on the counter, he sighed, holding out a paper towards her. “Look at this.” 

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Kenmei reluctantly turned her head to look at the paper. Her eyes first landing on the huge sum of money right next to ‘amount due’ in big, bold, red letters. It was addressed to a Mr. Cai Keneiji, indicating that he was past due in paying his bill. The date indicated that it was a recent bill, and it was from the local hospital. The paper shook in front of her face, causing her to flinch away from it slightly,  her eyes moving up to her father’s face. 

Keneiji had a sour expression on his face, obviously displeased with this letter. “Do you see this shit? This is how much I owe, in total. And that smaller number, if you can call it that-” His finger moved to a bold list of numbers that were smaller, but still just as intimidating. “That is what I owe monthly. I’m not even halfway done with your mother’s bills. Now I have Kendai’s on top of them?” He slammed the paper down onto the counter, causing Kenmei to jump and eyes grow teary. 

“And you’re enough of an idiot to go out, walk hours away from the city, and somehow end up at the bottom of a cliff?” The more his anger grew, the louder his voice became, until Kenmei had completely sunken into herself, hugging herself tightly with her head hanging. Still, he continued on, showing no care towards how she felt about the conversation. “It was a ridiculous amount for me to have a doctor come to the house to look at you. What were you thinking, running off like that?” 

With trembling hands, Kenmei went back to making her food, only taking a quick glance up at him. “I had only wanted to go for a walk… I had gone down there to just sit, and I fell asleep. I was exhausted.” She took in a breath, hoping it would give her some courage. “Why are you showing me that bill anyway? What does it have to do with anything?” Keneiji held the bill back up, pointing at it once again. “This total? That’s your fault. If we had pulled the plug on him sooner, I wouldn’t have to be paying this ridiculous amount of money for someone who was going to die anyway!” 

A rage built up within Kenmei and she gripped the edge of her ceramic bowl with both hands, lifting it up off the table and slamming it back down with enough force to crack it. She glared up at him, feeling the new sharp edge of the bowl cut into her palm as she kept a grip on it. “Don’t talk about him like that! How can you be so heartless!?” She hiccuped as her tears began to cloud her vision, struggling to speak. “How could you hate us all so much? You should have just left us alone, we would have made it fine!” 

Keneiji glared at her, snatching her by the wrist and holding her own hand up towards her face, as if he were using her wound to prove a point. It was bleeding freely down her hand now, dripping rubies onto the pristine white floor. “No, they’d still be dead and you’d be pathetic and alone in a shitty little shack on the edge of town! Why do you think your mother stayed with me, huh? Because she was too worthless to do anything on her own! And you’re just like her.” He let go of her wrist roughly and Kenmei pulled her arm back to herself, clenching her hand shut tightly, even as the wound stung. 

Turning away, he walked back to the table, sitting down in his chair as if exhausted. “You’re lucky the law is on your side as far as your mother’s will goes. You got all her life savings and money from her job, and I don’t see a penny of it. That’s the only thing keeping you going without me. Once that money is gone, you’ll have nothing.” Kenmei grabbed a small towel that was sitting on the counter and pressed it into her palm, wincing at the pain that shot up her arm. “I’m sure you’d prefer it if I had fallen off that cliff.” She began to leave the kitchen, ignoring the sigh that came from her father. 

Once wrapping the wound, Kenmei was quick to dress warmly, grab her bag with books and money inside, and leave the house. She needed to get away from there until nightfall, and from the looks of the clear sky, it was only mid morning. Deciding to take her bike out this time, she unchained it from the wall of the home and got on, riding towards town. She was still starving, and if a quiet meal at home wasn’t a possibility, she would have to buy herself something. 

Making a quick stop at the small marketplace, she bought a variety of fruits and vegetables to take with her during her ride, as well as an already made salad to quickly scarf down before leaving and a few bottles of water. Thanking the chubby little man that served her, she adjusted the backpack on her shoulders before hopping on her bike, heading straight for the hillside. 

It would be a few hours ride to the cliffs, but she was prepared, with her music and hopeful thoughts to keep herself busy. 

She could only pray that he would be there. 


	5. Lonely Water Boy

By the time Kenmei reached the alcove in the cliffs, the sun was high in the sky, and she was sweating profusely. She had shed off much of her outer clothing layers, and had drank one of the four bottles of water she had bought. Having some difficulty getting her bike stand to work on the grass, she gave up and allowed her bike to lay on its side instead, too worn out to worry about it that much. Her backpack, now filled with clothing on top of belongings and food, was heavy on her back, and she took a moment to clear it out and place the unnecessary items beside her bike. 

In truth, she knew that she was actually stalling, slowly removing her clothing and folding them before setting them down. The thoughts that Judar wouldn’t be down there plagued her mind, and she was starting to become sick with worry. Why it mattered so much, she wasn’t sure, but she wanted to see him again. Up to this point, she hadn’t heard his singing or the pleasant sound of him splashing about below the cliffs, and she had only hope that maybe he was resting silently on the pebbles instead of in the icy water. 

Once her bag had only food, water, books and a coat inside, she adjusted it back onto her shoulders, taking a moment to look at her surroundings. Unlike the other day, it was green and bright, with an atmosphere that promoted joy. She felt better out here than in that stuffy little town, and she could only hope she would get to come out here more often. With a deep breath, she headed towards the edge of the cliff, standing on the edge where the grass and dirt was displaced. This had been where had she fallen before, and as she peered over the edge, she could see the patch of land that had caught her before. 

Before she jumped down, she scanned the water of the small pool below. It was empty, with no movement except for the occasional rush of a small wave that disturbed its stillness. There was no sign of life in the pebbles, either, and Kenmei felt her heart grow heavy. With a defeated sigh, she sat down on the edge of the cliff, allowing her legs to dangle. For the first time, she began to wonder if she had actually met Judar or if he had been a part of her imagination. Her mind crippled enough by grief, she wouldn't put it past herself to create such a being. 

Kenmei was an imaginative sort, with a passion for reading, writing and all things within the realm of fantasy. She had written many of her own stories, and one of her favorite ones was actually about a boy that lived in the sea, and she found it quite the coincidence that Judar was similar to him. “Perhaps that is what happened…” She thought out loud, taking a moment to cough. “Maybe I did fall, and I just dreamed of him.” Still, his melody clouded her mind, and she knew that couldn’t have been true. 

Gathering her courage, she scooted herself to the edge of the cliff and let herself fall, landing clumsily onto the patch of land. She felt a sharp pain fly up her leg from her ankle, cursing at herself to be more careful. Her jeans, she thought, were a good idea, otherwise she knew she would have scraped her legs in the fall. Pulling herself to her feet with help from the roots sticking out of the dirt behind her, she began to make her way back down the path to the pebbled beach. Her heavy hiking boots she had worn helped to steady her and keep her footing.

Within moments, she hopped off a small ledge and into the pebbles, her feet sinking in up to her shoe laces. With much effort, she made her way to the waters edge, finding it easier to walk as the pebbles became more dense. She could feel the straps of her backpack tug against her arms as her chest and back heaved, trying to catch her breath as she took a moment to glance around again. Still no movement or sign of life, she took the bag off her shoulders and placed it down before she sat with it. 

If he showed up or not, she was set on spending the day here, in the peacefulness of nature. Digging through her bag, she pulled out a thick, heavily used notebook, a pen, a small bag of nuts and a bottle of water. After taking a generous gulp of the lukewarm water, she settled herself to become comfortable with her notebook open on her lap. It was the notebook that she wrote her stories in, given to her as a gift from her mother when she was in her early teenage years. The blue cover was worn from use and the edges of the paper were grimy from touch and exposure, with many little different colored sticky notes and pieces of paper sticking out. 

To her, the colors all meant different things, either from parts she wanted to edit in the future, places she wanted to omit from the story, and even her favorite parts. Now, having been on her mind, she turned to a page marked with a bright orange sticky note, an indicator of the beginning of her  _ Lonely Water Boy  _ story. Her pen in hand, she began to read, quickly growing lost in the story she had neglected to read in almost a year. Every once in a while, she would pause to make an edit, but otherwise she was completely wrapped up in the words. 

Kenmei wasn’t sure how long she had been reading, but she had almost reached the end when she thought she heard some noise from the body of water in front of her. After finishing the sentence she was on, she took a moment to look up, glancing around. The water’s surface was still as it had been, and the small hope that had risen inside of her faded. But, a thought came to her as she watched the water, her head physically tilting to the side a bit. Why would she be looking at the water? Wouldn’t he also come from the cliffs?

She took a moment to glance behind her, still seeing no sign of human life. Feeling a bit defeated, she turned back to her reading, once again becoming lost in the words. Suddenly, a few drops of water landed on the pages and she jumped, giving a small gasp in shock. After quickly dabbing them dry as to not smudge the ink, she turned her gaze up towards the sky to see if had been raindrops, closing the notebook and holding it close to her chest to prevent any further damage. To her surprise, the sky was clear blue, with only a few white fluffy clouds floating about. 

“Huh…” She brought her eyes to be back level with the water, only to be met with crimson eyes as they peered at her behind black hair. Shrieking, Kenmei fumbled backwards, attempting to get away. She only succeeded in kicking up rocks and digging holes into the ground with her heels, her body only sinking into the pebbles with her struggles. As she cowered on her back, her notebook in front of her face, she could hear the sound of hysterical cackling behind the pounding beat of her heart.  Immediately recognizing it, she sat back up, gasping for breath as she tried to calm her panic. 

“J-Judar!” 

He didn’t answer her, one arm pounding on the large rock at the drop off while he howled in laughter. Between his gasps for air, he said something in a language Kenmei couldn’t quite understand, but she was too frustrated to worry about that at the time. Feeling her face flush with fire, she placed her notebook to the side, scooting herself to sit closer to the edge of the water. “Why would you scare me like that?” Unable to look at her without bursting into another fit of laughter, he turned his back to her, trying to calm himself. “Because, I couldn’t help myself!” 

As she glared at the back of his head, she noticed that his hair was no longer flowing freely as it had been last time. Instead, it was tied messily with some type of cloth at the base of his head, and she could see the beginnings of a large braid before the rest was hidden by the dark water. Along with this, his ears were no longer hidden by his hair, and she could see that they were not rounded, but instead came to a very slight point. 

Her frustration quelled by curiosity, she stood, carefully making her way through the shallow water until she stood on the large rock he always leaned on. She was already sitting on it by the time he turned around, and he was so shocked at her close proximity to him that he gave a squeak of his own, dipping himself down into the water up to his nose. His gaze was shocked at first, until he began to glower at her in irritation, lifting his head up just enough to reveal his mouth. “Who said you could get this close to me?”

Kenmei was less than a foot from him now, and since he made no attempts to get away, she made none to make him feel more comfortable. In fact, she leaned in closer, trying to observe him better. “Your ears…” Unable to help herself, her hand unconsciously began to reach out. Before she could get far, his hand darted out of the water and snatched her by the wrist, forcing a gasp from her as she was made to stop her advance. His skin felt like ice. She stared at his hand for a moment before turning her gaze to his face, feeling her stomach bubble nervously at the blank expression on his face. 

His glare was just as cold as his skin, and she immediately felt regret for how she had acted. “I-I’m sorry… That was so rude of me…” Judar’s expression softened after a moment and he sighed, loosening his grip on her wrist a bit. “You really are a curious one.” He pulled her arm down towards his face, his other hand coming up out of the cold water to touch the bandages on her hand gently. “What’s this for?” Kenmei felt her face flush at how tenderly he was touching her. “I… I hurt myself this morning. I had a fight with my father and I broke a ceramic bowl.” 

“Ceramic?” He seemed confused at the word, but was more curious about the bandages, beginning to tug at them, even against Kenmei’s protest not to. Hushing her with only a quick annoyed glance, he went back to his work of removing them. A bit of shock crossed his features as he reached the beginning of the bandages, where blood stained the cotton fabric. Kenmei gave a small wince as the bandage was pulled from the wound, the dried blood having stuck it to her skin. Now reopened, blood began to drip from her hand and into the water, and Judar only watched it with an intense focus. 

Kenmei squirmed a bit uncomfortably where she sat, giving a small cough as she chill of the water soaking her clothing seemed to increase her congestion. “J-Judar?” His eyes only flicked to her face for a second before he brought her hand closer to his face. “Don’t freak out.” 

Before Kenmei could ask what he meant, he brought her hand up to his lips and ran his tongue along her palm, directly over the wound. Squealing loudly in disgust, Kenmei yanked her hand back, shaking it in the air as if to rid it of the saliva. “Ew, ew, ew! Judar!” As she went to dunk her hand into the water, Judar snatched her arm again, only with both hands this time. “No, you have to leave it on there!” Kenmei, still physically cringing in disgust and trying to pull her arm away, shook her head. “No, that’s so disgusting! Let me wipe it off!” 

“No!” Judar snapped at her, pulling her arm down towards him, forcing her attention to his face. “It will help! Leave it!” Trembling, Kenmei stared at her hand, finding herself growing nauseous as she noticed it was still shiny with the saliva. She noticed that the bleeding had stopped, as if the liquid was a bandage in itself. “B-but, it’s your spit!” With a frustrated sigh, Judar let go of her arm and floated backwards a bit, holding up his hands in mock defeat. “Fine, whatever, you don’t have to trust me.” 

The urge to dunk her hand into the water was almost overwhelming, but she resisted, instead pulling her arm back to herself. Judar eyed her for a moment before he came back over, leaning his arms on the rock in front of her legs. He pulled himself up out of the water a bit, and Kenmei felt her cheeks flush as he leaned in closer to her. Head tilting to the side slightly, a sly smirk crossed his lips as he stared up at her. “Kenmei… right?” Kenmei huffed a bit, narrowing her eyes at him in annoyance. “You lick my hand but can’t remember my name?” 

“Eh, I remembered your name. Just making sure.” His eyes began to travel from hers, to her nose, her lips, and soon enough away from her face completely. Kenmei felt frozen by his gaze, her embarrassment only growing as he seemed to observe every inch of her. Still, this gave her the chance to do the same, able to see him clearly in the bright light of the sun. His skin was so fair she could have sworn it was nearly translucent, his forehead, sides of his face, down along his neck and across his shoulders tinted with a red hue. 

In these red areas, patches of crimson scales glistened in the sunlight, the most dense being along his neck and shoulders. His arms were mostly bare, the scales reappearing along his wrists and back of his hands, trailing up the back of his thin fingers. The only other thing she could see was his bare chest, his arms crossed in front of it, still resting on the rock. 

“I wanted to hide myself from you a little bit longer just to play around, but I guess I can’t anymore.” 


	6. Creature of Perfection

Judar’s voice brought Kenmei’s attention back to his smug expression, but she was so confused and in shock that she couldn’t find it within herself to speak. “You must be able to figure it out by now. I think you’re at least decently smart for a human.” As he spoke, something began to rise up out of the water behind him, but Kenmei was too locked onto his face to see anything but a blurry shape. Blinking rapidly, Kenmei reached up and rubbed her eyes with her uninjured hand, as if trying to rub this illusion from her mind. 

“Look at me.” 

Giving a small flinch at his voice, she quickly looked back at him, her focus instantly being pulled to the object behind him. A large, scaled maroon and crimson tail lifted from the water, barely giving Kenmei a glimpse of the elaborate fin that sat at the end of the tapered extremity. Beginning to breath heavily in shock, her eyes came back to his, finding herself in awe of his presence. At this point, she knew for a fact that she was not dreaming or imagining anything. The slight tingling in the wound on her hand, and the heat that his gaze sent rushing through her body was enough to keep her tethered to reality. 

Judar was indeed the Lonely Water Boy from her story, a creature from the depths of the ocean that came to find solace in the company of a human. However, in this fantasy she was currently living, her story seemed flipped on its head, and she was the one that found peace in the company of a demon of myth. Evil these creatures were, as told in her childhood books and lore in her local library. Yet, she felt no fear, only an undying attraction that she craved to explore deeper. 

His expression no longer smug, he seemed a bit bothered by her silence and her stare. Slapping his tail fin against the surface of the water with impatience, he asked, “Are you scared of me?” 

Slowly shaking her head as she pulled herself out of shock, Kenmei timidly reached forward, running the tip of her fingers against the scales on the back of his hand. His fingers twitched as if he were going to pull his hand away, but he kept it in place, allowing her touch the slick surface. “I’m not scared…” She spoke softly, as if she were scared she might spook him. “Just fascinated…” She gave a small gasp as the scales rose up off the skin a bit and she pulled her hand away, noticing that the edges were quite sharp. With a frustrated grumble, Judar pushed himself away from the rock. “That, uh.. happens when I’m nervous.” 

Pulling his braid over his shoulder, he showed what little of his back he could to her. Larger scales covered his shoulder blades and seemed to cascade down his back on either side of his spine, where the fair skin was untouched. These scales, much bigger in comparison to the ones on his hands, currently sat raised off the skin. “Is it like a defensive thing?” Kenmei asked softly, observing them. With a sigh, Judar nodded, rolling his shoulders a bit as if trying to relax himself. “Yeah, when I’m nervous or threatened. Honestly, it kind of hurts. But it goes away when I calm down.” 

He looked back at her, narrowing his eyes at her in annoyance. “Why are you so calm about this? I thought you would freak out more!” Soft smile crossing her face, Kenmei leaned forward a little more, resting her elbows on her knees. “Did you want me to be?” His face flushed in agitation, Judar began to swim around the pool, no longer bothering to keep his tail hidden beneath the water. She could see it sparkle brilliantly beneath the surface of the water, and when it broke the surface, the shine casted from the sun nearly blinded her. 

“I don’t want you to be, I guess. It’s more… I expected you to be. You’re too calm about it!” Currently floating around on his back, his tail rose up and came down with enough force to create a splash and a small wave, tossing the water more onto Kenmei’s legs. She shivered and stood, unable to stand the chill any longer. “You’re not happy that I accepted it so easily?” Judar turned his pouty gaze to her, beginning to make his way back over. “You’re not scared that I could pull you under the water and drown you so I can eat you?” 

Kenmei’s face flushed a bit, moving her arms to hug herself against the cold. “Well… I can think of worse ways to die.” Bewildered by her response, Judar stared up at her with a dumbfounded expression, until he shook his head, as if to physically rid himself of confusion. “You’re so weird.” He propped himself back up onto the rock with his arms, peering at her knees curiously. Her jeans being ripped in that area, her skin peeked through, gaining his interest enough to make him reach up and poke her skin gently. “Why do you have holes on your, uh… What are these?” He slipped his finger between her skin and the fabric, tugging on it a bit. 

“Jeans.” Kenmei observed him, noticing his curiosity was almost like that of a child. Judar removed his finger and ran it down her shin, feeling the wet fabric. “What’s this fabric called?” Kenmei felt her face flush at his touch, and she assumed he didn’t really know the foundation of boundaries. “It’s, uhm… It’s called denim.” He nodded, his hand falling to her hiking boots to tug at the laces. “You know, I spend a lot of time listening to humans. I have since I was little. That’s why I can talk to you.” 

He took a quick moment to glance up at her before his attention was pulled back to her shoes. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to talk to me. Anyway, humans have such weird things they never talk out loud about, but not things like clothes. It’s like common knowledge to all of them. Denim. Shoes…” He tried to mimic the way the shoelace was tied on her other foot, fumbling about with the strings. “Things that are so weird to me, but so common place to you. I hear the words but I don’t understand what they mean. What are ‘jeans’ anyway? What are they for?” 

Giving up on the shoelaces, he tugged on the wet fabric of her jeans, looking up at her curiously. “Do you people not like to show your skin or something?” Kenmei looked down at her legs, her hands coming down to poke her fingers in her pockets. “Well… We have different types of clothes for different times of the year, for when it’s hot or when it’s cold. Jeans are for either, really, but I usually only wear them when it’s cold. They have pockets, so they’re functional to carry things with, too.”  

It felt completely bizarre to Kenmei to be explaining these type of mundane things to Judar, but his gaze assured her that he was intently focused. Judar scrunched up his face a bit in confusion, his gaze rising to her stomach. “But why? Why do you want to cover your skin? And what’s that?” His finger came up and poked the metal button at the top of her jeans. Her face flushing hotter, she gently smacked his hand away, bringing her hands down to cover that area. “D-don’t do that, you can’t just poke there!” 

Judar glowered at her, taking his hand back, as if he were highly offended. “Why, what does it matter? Is that what holds the jeans on your legs?” Kenmei nodded, crossing her arms. “Yeah, the button is what helps keep it snug on your body.” Grumbling in slight frustration, his tail breached and slapped against the surface of the water a few times, his eyes narrowed at the fabric on her legs. “I still don’t get why you people hide your skin! It seems pointless to make all these clothes.” 

Taking a few steps back, Kenmei sat back down in the dry pebbles, tired of standing. “Well we can’t go around naked, Judar.” In response to her moving further away, Judar pushed himself up onto the flat surface of the rock, until all of what was humanoid of his figure was out of the water. From what Kenmei could see, he was quite lean, if not a little thin, and his aquatic lower half began right at the base of his hips. It was a smooth transition from skin to scales, the thick patches on his back pulling the two sections together. Now that his entire back was exposed to her, she could see a dorsal fin protruded from the skin, beginning right below the arch of his back and continuing down his tail into the water. It was currently folded in against his form, and she grew curious as to what it looked like when he was swimming. 

Propping his head up with one arm, he reached over with his free hand, once again tugging at the laces of her shoes. “I know it’s not normal for you people to walk around without clothes. They just seem pointless to me.” He gently tugged at the shoe, soon slipping it loose from her heel and off her foot completely. He glowered at the sock that covered her foot, seeming disgusted with it. “You even have something else under your shoes? What is wrong with you people.” Using only two fingers, as if disgusted to touch it, he tugged her sock off of her foot and tossed it to the side. “Yuck, it’s like extra skin!” 

Kenmei couldn’t help but to giggle at his reaction, flexing her toes about once they were free. “It’s to protect the skin of my feet from getting blisters from the shoes.” Judar watched her wiggle her toes, eyes bright with curiosity. “Blisters… Sounds painful.” His curious expression turned to one of distaste as he looked her foot over. “Ew… feet are ugly. I’ve never seen one this close before.” Kenmei felt her face flush, digging her foot into the pebbles to hide it. “Hey! That’s so mean!” Judar grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her foot back out, moving her leg around in the air so he could observe it from different angles. 

“Well, I don’t know what your feet look like in relation to other feet! Maybe you have cute feet, I don’t fucking know.” He narrowed his eyes at her, though his expression softened when he noticed how embarrassed she was. Her face flushed a dark red, she was avoiding looking at him, and was trying her best not to pull her leg away. He had effectively crossed the boundaries of personal space, and she was unsure of how to bring it up to him. She was at war with herself, her embarrassment fighting against her emotions. 

Kenmei could still not believe that she had become companions with a mythical creature like this, and in truth, she had no idea how to act. She wasn’t sure if she should be scared of him. What if all of this was just a trick to make her comfortable before he dragged her to the depths? His pointed teeth and sharp fingernails was proof enough that his main source of food was meat, and that should set fear off inside of her. But, she couldn’t find it in herself to be scared of him. Though he was a little invasive to personal space, and had a bit of an attitude, he was gentle and mostly curious. Nothing about him was threatening, and his presence was soothing to her. 

The hours trailed on with the same type of mundane conversations, with Judar asking his many questions. What is this? What’s it for? How does it work? How is music trapped inside an electronic box? Why do those taste so nasty? Why is that water not salty? Why do you not eat meat? How do you read those human letters in your books? What are those brown dots all over your skin? 

By the time the sun was growing low in the sky, Kenmei had answered every question about every item on her person. Now, Judar was laying on his back beside her in the pebbles, tossing a piece of fruit up into the air above him before catching it. “What is this called again?” Kenmei gave a small yawn, pulling her eyes away from the time on her phone to see what he had. “That’s a peach. You should try it.” Judar glowered at the item as he caught it one last time, holding it up closer to his face. “But it feels weird… Like it’s hairy.” Unable to help a small giggle, Kenmei shook her head, turning to face him a bit more. “Come on, do it.” 

As he contemplated the thought, Kenmei’s eyes moved to observe him once again, even though she had been staring at him the entire day. He had no scales across his chest and torso, except down along his sides leading to his back, and the skin on his stomach seemed the most fair. Though he was thin, the muscles on his stomach were well defined, and he seemed very fit. Many times, she felt the urge to run her fingertips along the curves of his toned stomach, but she knew that was not appropriate. Physically, he was a flawless creature, and her knowledge of the lore surrounding his kind told her why. 

Males and females alike were all pure beauty, with voices that could seduce and charm that could render even the coldest of person helpless. Sailors and people on beaches were known to have vanished without a trace, sometimes even leaving entire ships vacant. Survivors would claim that the Devil Fish had tried to take them away, but what was done to those they successfully captured was left to speculation. Tortured, used for mating rituals, eaten, or even have their legs turned to fins with an unknown magic. 

Now, Kenmei knew that their existence was not a myth, but what of their motives? Looking at this living creature beside her, observing a peach with confusion and curiosity, she couldn’t bring herself to believe that he had malicious intent. She wanted to believe that he did not plan on harming her, and until he proved otherwise, she decided she would continue to trust him. Suddenly, she was pulled from her thoughts by him yelling out loudly, his tail flapping about in excitement. “What happened?” 

Too deep into scarfing down the peach, he could not respond, ripping into it like it was a live animal trying to escape. He ate every bit of it, all the way down to the pit, before he even realized Kenmei had been watching him in shock. Licking his lips, he sat up, peering down at her with almost a crazed excitement. “Can I eat this part, too?” He held up the pit, seeming as if he were ready to shove it into his mouth at any second. Kenmei quickly shook her head, trying to restrain her giggles. “No, no, Judar, that’s the seed part. You can’t eat that. But here.” She reached into her bag, pulling out another one. As she handed it to him, he dropped the pit into the pebbles, not even taking a second to begin devouring the fresh fruit. 

No longer able to restrain her giggles, she laughed freely at him, finding his excitement beyond adorable. “And here I thought you didn’t like my food.” Wiping his mouth off, he dropped the pit onto the ground, shaking his head. “No, I hate those weird… nuts? I hate the nuts. But these fruit things are awesome.” Without permission, he began to rummage through her bag, taking another peach for himself. He ate this one more calmly, however, beginning to scoot himself back towards the water. “You’d better go home, it’s going to be dark.” 

With a sigh, Kenmei nodded, grabbing her shoes. “I know… I just enjoy being with you. And you said this would be the last time I could see you, so…” Though she tried to control it, her sadness was apparent in her voice. After sinking himself back into the water, Judar looked up at her, speaking through a full mouth. “I’ll tell you what. You bring me more of these, you can see me again. Also, I want you to read me another one of your stories, I liked them.” He watched her sit motionless for a bit before he reached back over, able to grab her toes. 

Gripping her big toe, he squeezed it, gaining her attention. Kenmei felt her stomach flutter as he grinned at her, heart beginning to pound heavily through her body. 

“Five days. Come back here in five days. I’ll be mad if you don’t have a bunch of these peach things, though. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up as my snack instead.”


	7. A Touch In Summer

The visits a few times a month turned into twice every other week, to multiple times a week, until Kenmei was spending nearly every day with Judar at the cliffs. By now, the heat of summer was falling upon them, and this brought up a whole new situation that Kenmei had not prepared herself for. Judar had begun to nearly beg her to swim with him, and every day had become a nonstop bombardment of teasing, gentle coaxing, and half-hearted attempts to pull her into the water with no success. There were many reasons as to why Kenmei did not want to get into the water, but the most simple was one she just could not get him to understand: 

She can’t swim. 

“What do you mean you can’t swim? What does that even mean!” He was beyond pouting at this point, now just into full-on whining. “Look at you, you’re all sweaty and stuff, just get in with me! I won’t let you drown.” He swam up to her knees, her legs dangling over the edge of the drop off. Though the water against her legs was cooling her off, it was true that the sun was making it nearly unbearable to be down in the windless little beach. With a sigh, she leaned back on her hands, shaking her head. “I can’t swim, Judar! I just can’t get in! It’s too deep here.” 

Glaring up at her, he laid his chin on her knee, obviously thinking about how he could get her in without upsetting her. Kenmei sighed, not sure if the heat in her cheeks was from his touch or from the blaring sun. Another reason why she couldn’t find it in herself to get into the water was because of her feelings for him. It was difficult for her to admit, but she had grown a huge crush on him, and the thought of him having to hold onto her in the water like that was too much for her to even think about. Even after all this time, he still had no recognition of personal space or what was appropriate to do, and just his head laying on her knees like this sent her stomach into a flutter. 

She wanted to touch him, to stroke his cheek or run her fingers through his hair. Still, unsure of how he would react towards such affections, she held herself back. It was unknown to her if he felt anything similar towards her or not, and she was scared that he may never come back if she made him nervous. Instead, she smiled, shaking her head at him. “You’re not going to get me in, Judar. And I told you, if you pull me in, I’ll never bring peaches for you again.” 

Judar’s eyes narrowed at her menacingly as if she had just committed a great sin. “You wouldn’t dare do that to me.” Kenmei gave a small jump as he gripped onto her ankles, feeling her heart begin to race. “Y-Yes I would, if you pull me in! You’ll never get another peach from me ever again!” Judar continued to eye her, swimming backwards a bit while still keeping his grip on her legs. “But I won’t lose you, right?” The stab to Kenmei’s chest nearly made her faint, beginning to stutter. “N-no, I suppose you w-wouldn’t.” Her voice trembled just as violently as her body did, trying to find the energy to pull her legs from him. 

A sly grin split his face as he tightened his grip. “Well, I don’t really need peaches all that much then.” Kenmei squealed as he gave only a slight tug, pulling her bottom closer to the edge of the rock. Judar began to laugh as she tried to wiggle herself away from him. “J-Judar, stop it! I’m seriously scared of getting in!” Kenmei finally got her legs free and scooted herself back until she was in the pebbles, eyes teary with fear as she glared at him. “I already told you!” Still laughing, Judar pulled himself up onto the rock, making his way into the pebbles to lay on his back beside her. 

“Mei, why are you so scared? Seriously, I’m not gonna let you die.” He put his arms behind his head for support, growing comfortable. His tail moved as if it were an unconscious function of his body, the end of it slowly rising and falling back against the ground. Kenmei sighed, laying next to him with her head against her backpack. “It’s not just that, Judar. It’s just… I can’t do it.” She kept her gaze locked on the sky as she heard him shuffle to lay on his side, her cheeks growing warm just at the thought of him looking at her. In the end, she didn’t have much of a choice, as he gripped onto her face gently and turned her head towards him. 

Gently squishing her cheeks, he narrowed his eyes at her in a playful glare. “You don’t trust me?” His fingers were like ice against her flushed skin, having to shut her eyes in her embarrassment. She couldn’t look at him, scared the words might begin to just spill from her lips. “J-Judar, it’s more complicated than that.” With a frustrated grumble, he moved his hand to rest against her cheek, and the butterflies in Kenmei’s stomach nearly burst free. 

“What is the problem, then? There has to be something else besides just being scared.” Judar moved some of her hair from her face, forcing the sticky grip of sweat to release. Gathering her courage, Kenmei opened her eyes to look at him, instantly catching his gaze. It was intense and curious, as it usually was, but she could have sworn she saw something different in those crimson eyes. It sparked adrenaline inside of her, and taking in a huge breath, she sat up.

Before Judar could even ask what she was doing, she stood, beginning to unbutton her lilac chiffon blouse. In truth, she didn’t know what she was doing, but she was sure of something. She was tired of being a coward, and if she continued with this type of attitude, she would never get anything she wanted. Though she was embarrassed and frightened, that longing in his gaze made her want to try. 

Once unbuttoned, she placed the shirt on top of her backpack, leaving her in just her shorts and undergarments. She caught Judar’s gaze for a moment as he stared up at her, the flushed color of his cheeks matching his scales. “Uh, what are you doing?” Kenmei avoided his gaze as she made her way to the edge of the water, taking a moment to pause and unbutton her shorts. “I-I’m getting in.” She heard the clacking of pebbles as he followed her, but she didn’t stop, stepping out of her shorts and tossing them behind her. 

“Are you serious?!” Judars voice cracked in his shocked excitement, but Kenmei didn’t give him time to catch up. She quickly made her way forward and jumped into the water, taking in a large breath before she vanished beneath the surface. As she felt the water surround her, panic grew in her core, but she did her best to keep calm. She could feel nothing but the pressure of the water against her limbs as she moved them to steady herself, the rumbling sound of the water clouding her mind. 

Unsure if she was straight or upside down, she forced her eyes open, actually surprised that the burning sensation was not as severe as expected. Kenmei could see nothing around her, and the glistening surface of the water above her seemed like it was miles away. Still, as her lungs began to burn, she felt at peace under the surface, just as she had in her bathtub many months before. A loud sound of disturbed water caught her attention and she looked over, seeing the brilliant red of Judar’s tail through the bubbles. 

Though Kenmei felt like she was moving in slow motion, Judar moved towards her with speed and grace unlike anything she had ever seen. Even in the dark water, his color was vibrant and his beauty was endless. After taking a moment to stop and wave at her with a toothy grin, he took her by the arm and pulled her upwards, quickly breaching the surface. Kenmei took in a breath with a loud gasp, suddenly feeling panic grip her. Needing something to steady herself, she unconsciously latched onto him, her eyes shut tightly to try and ease the burning caused by the salt water. 

Kenmei didn’t realize that she was gripping onto his shoulders until she felt a supportive arm wrap around her waist. Bodies pressing together from his grip, she began to try and wiggle away, her embarrassment throwing her mind into a frenzy. “N-no, Judar, you can’t hold onto me like this!” His grip only tightened in reaction to her struggles, his other arm coming around to rest across her upper back. “Wait- what are you talking about? Stop squirming like that!” Placing both hands on his chest, she tried to push herself back, but he still did not let go. “I-I can’t let you hold onto me this way!” 

“Kenmei!” 

The volume and sharp tone of his voice made her cease her struggles, and she finally looked up at him. His features were blurry, and she wasn’t sure if it was from the saltwater burning her eyes or the tears that were welling up in them. She could see that he was frustrated, and she took in deep breaths to try and calm herself. Judar let out a sigh, his grip loosening on her. “I can’t let you go, because you can’t swim. You almost hit rocks when you jumped in, you know. Stupid.” 

Beginning to feel ashamed at how she acted, Kenmei relaxed her body, looking away from him. “I’m sorry… It was all just so much at once.” With a huff, Judar moved his hands to rest on her sides, pushing her out from him slightly. “If you don’t want me to hold you, then fine. We’ll do it like this instead.” Once she was away from him, he gripped onto her arms gently, keeping her afloat. The awkwardness between them was almost palpable, and this entire situation did not go how she had planned at all. 

She had expected herself to be brave enough to let him touch her like that, but it had been too much for her. It was something that she wanted more than anything, but her fear of rejection and her uncontrollable embarrassment set her back. With a small shake of her head, Kenmei swallowed the lump in her throat, blinking the tears away. “That’s not true, I just…” Her voice tapered off into silence, her head hanging in defeat. 

To her surprise, Judar pulled her back over to him, his hand sliding down her side and across her back until he was caressing her again. “If so, then let me.” Kenmei felt as if her entire body was on fire as he held her body against his, and she was positive he must have been able to feel how heavily her heart was beating. She couldn’t find it within herself to look at him, even with the intoxicating feeling of his hand sliding up her back. It was driving her completely mad, and she was actually surprised that the water hadn’t begun to boil around them. 

“I’m not that dense, you know.” 

Kenmei finally looked up at him as he coaxed her arms back up around his shoulders. Linking them behind his neck, she shook her head slightly. “I don’t understand. What do you mean by that?” Judar began to swim backwards slowly, keeping his grip to move her with him. “It’s obvious that you like me. That’s why you wouldn’t swim with me in the first place, and why you’re always so shy. It’s completely different from when you first met me, but not in a comfortable sort of way.” 

He chuckled as he thought about it, his eyes moving to watch the water. “Actually, you’re more awkward than you were back then. It’s a little infuriating.” Frown crossing her face, Kenmei hung her head slightly, her eyes landing on his collarbone. “I’m sorry… Do you want me to stop?” Judar’s grip tightened on her slightly and he shook his head. “What? Why would I want you to stop? I want you to just be open about it, you know?” Kenmei began to feel her eyes tear up at his words again, unsure of how to interpret them. 

“Besides,” he continued. “you never know.” 

“Never know what? I don’t understand what you mean.” Kenmei turned her gaze back up to his face. “We’re too different… My feelings are stupid and childish…” She laid her hot cheek against the cold scales of his shoulder, soaking in the moment of getting to be with him like this. Although he was boney and cold, she felt comfortable and safe in his arms, and she never wanted him to let her go. Judar was silent for a moment, moving them about in circles, and Kenmei could only imagine what he must have been thinking. 

“That’s really kind of stupid.” He finally spoke, and though Kenmei couldn’t see his face, she could hear that he spoke with a sneer. “I don’t care that we’re different. Do you think I’d be like this if I did? No, I would have eaten you.” Kenmei felt her stomach churn a bit at that comment. Judar made this joke often, and though he used it as a way to tease her, she was starting to think that it was something his kind actually did do. “Y-you wouldn’t eat me, Judar…” With a soft chuckle, Judar laid his head on hers, and she could feel him smiling. “Nah, I don’t want to eat you… But-” 

Kenmei felt her heart skip a beat as he leaned further down, his lips trailing her neck as one of his hands began to slide up her side slowly. 

“-I do want you.” 


	8. Secret Boyfriend

“I know humans call them stars, but I don’t really know what they are. We have our own theories about them, like they’re the souls of all kinds of things. That probably sounds really.. primitive to you, I bet.” Flashing a toothy grin up at her, Kenmei could have sworn the brilliant white of his teeth were glowing in the bright moonlight. Unable to help giving him a smile of her own, she shook her head. “I don’t think that at all. But, as far as we know, they’re made out of special types of gases called hydrogen and helium. At least, that’s what I remember from school.” 

As she spoke, she stroked his hair gently, his head resting on her lap as they sat on the beach. Fingers running through his bangs, she was actually quite surprised at how soft it was when dried. It had a unique thickness to it, and she grew curious as to what genetic differences there was to regular human hair. Judar peered up at the sky, squinting slightly as his hair fell back into his face. Kenmei could easily recognize that intuitive gaze, and she knew many questions were approaching. 

“Hydrogen and helium… What do those even do?” His nose crinkled in confusion and he turned his gaze to her face, as if looking for answers. Kenmei could only shake her head, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. “I’m sorry, I don’t really know anything about that. But I do know something that might be interesting to you.” Judar raised his eyebrows, his tail shifting position as he stared up at her. “Oh yeah? Hit me.” 

Kenmei tilted her head back a bit to look up at the sky, actually quite amazed at how visible the stars were that night. “The sun is a star. It’s the closest one to us, and I can’t remember exactly, but I think it’s something like 93 million miles away.” She looked back down at Judar as she heard him grumble a bit, and the disbelief was plain on his face. His eyes narrowed at her, he pointed up at the sky.

“I don’t understand the concept of miles. What is a mile in relation to distance by feet or meters? I hear sailors talk about meters. How far is that supposed to be? How long would it take to get there? Why does the sun go away at night, and how are there no other stars that big-” 

He was hushed as Kenmei placed her hand gently over his mouth, his bombardment of questions only making her head swim. “Woah, okay. Let’s slow down a little here. Besides, you didn’t even let me explain the cool part of what I was going to tell you.” Glaring up at her in annoyance of the interruption, he ran his tongue along her palm, knowing she hated it. Sure enough, Kenmei squealed and pulled her hand back, shaking it in the air. “Yuck! Judar, you know I hate that! Saliva is disgusting!” 

Smug smirk on his face, Judar nodded. “I know you do. But let me tell you a secret.” He wiggled his finger in a ‘come here’ motion, and Kenmei leaned down closer to his face. “What?” His smirk only grew, and Kenmei knew she was going to regret humoring him in this moment. 

“You might say you hate saliva,” his hand came up, tangling into her hair at the back of her head. “but you weren’t saying that when you were kissing me earlier.” 

Kenmei felt her cheeks begin to burn, trying to pull herself back away from him. “N-no! That’s different!” Judar laughed, keeping his hold on her firm to try and pull her down to him. “Aw, come on! Come down here, I just want a kiss.” Able to keep her still for a moment and seeing an opportunity, Judar leaned up. He ran his tongue along her cheek and up the side of her nose, coating her skin with as much saliva as he could muster in the moment. Shrieking loudly, Kenmei pushed him back, the force causing her to fall back to lay down as well. 

Using her other hand that had yet to be tainted, she quickly went to work wiping her face off, though found it to be quite difficult. Something about him, being the creature that he was, made his saliva much more dense than a normal humans. Though kissing had been okay, Kenmei hated the feeling of it on her skin, and she knew he only did it to get this type of reaction from her. Judar still enjoyed teasing her relentlessly, and now that their feelings were out in the open, he found more ways to do so. 

Literally anything he did would send her into am embarrassed frenzy, and Kenmei knew that he was taking great joy in every second. It was frustrating, but Kenmei couldn’t deny that she was enjoying it. The feeling of his hands on her body, his lips against hers or his breath on her skin drove her mad. Now, this day more than ever, she wished that he was human. This separation forced between them by being different species made her heart heavy, and she was unsure how they were going to handle it. 

By now, nearly four months after first meeting him, her feelings for him were out of control, and she was beyond happy that he had shown such intense interest back. Still, the thought lingered in the back of her mind:

_ How far could this really go?  _

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Judar’s laughter moving from near her legs, to above her, and she looked up as a shadow cast over her face. Judar had sat up to gaze down at her, grin still on his face. “I got you.” Kenmei clenched her eyes shut as he reached over and helped to wipe the saliva off her face, using her discarded shirt she had taken off hours before. Once done, he tossed it away, before placing his hand back on her cheek gently. 

“You’re mad at me now?” He raised an eyebrow at the flustered glare she shot up at him, and Kenmei could feel her cheek grow hotter against the cold skin of his hand. “Why would you lick my face?” With a shrug, his grin only grew, moving some of her hair out of her face gently. “Because I like your face.” Beginning to feel herself growing flustered for the millionth time that day, Kenmei avoided looking at him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“How is that a good reason to want to lick my face?” Kenmei closed one eye as he ran his thumb over her eyebrow, as if he were studying her face structure. She watched as his grin faded into the shadows of his face, and she could no longer make out his expression. His eyes glowed with that uncanny reflective shine, like that of a cat, and she knew that he was able to see her perfectly in the dim light. That thought made her nervous, that she could not see him while he could see every inch of her. 

This feeling was only heightened as he continued to trace her features with his fingers. They finally came to a rest after his thumb stroked her bottom lip and his hand moved to caress her cheek gently. Everytime he showed affection like this, Kenmei felt the same exact violent flutter in her stomach that she did the first moment he had done so in the water. Those kisses along her neck that led to her lips, and the first kiss that made her swell with so much emotion she couldn’t help but to cry. 

Much passion had passed between them from then to now, and the butterflies in her stomach were only confirmation that it was going to happen again. Judar did not make her wait long, however, as he soon leaned in, catching her lips with his own. The kiss was quick to accelerate in intensity as Kenmei’s arms came up to wrap around his neck, pulling him in closer. His hand began to slide down her side, his grip firm and comforting. As this went on, something peaked in Kenmei’s mind that she found oddly curious, especially during such an intimate moment. 

Judar’s skin, which was usually always like ice, felt warm. 

…

Kenmei sighed as she collapsed onto her bed, immediately wrapping herself in the comfort of the fleece blanket she kept on top of her comforter. Though it irritated her sunburn at first, she quickly grew used to it, cocooning herself in the warmth. She was exhausted from a restless night out on the beach, having just returned early that morning, as Judar had said he would be gone for a few days. He wouldn’t tell her why, but he seemed very excited for something, and it made her very curious. 

Thinking of him, her sunburned cheeks grew even hotter, and she snuggled her face into her pillow. She could still feel his hands on her body and his lips on her skin. Her mind began to race with her thoughts of him. Excitement and embarrassment bubbling to a high point, she gave a girlish squeal and began to roll back and forth on her bed, covering her flushed face with the blanket. Giddy and flustered, she came to a rest on her back, locking her eyes on her ceiling fan. It was spinning slowly on its lowest setting, the soft sound soon reaching her ears and the cool air touched her flushed skin. 

This was the happiest she had been since her brother’s death a few months ago, and she clung to it with every fiber of her being. Her happiness always had a tendency to be stolen from her, but she was determined to keep it this time. Everything that had happened to her was like a fantasy novel, and it was all so cliché that she began to expect that she was dreaming it. But, his touch was so real, and the sunburn that plagued her skin was painful enough to not be a dream. 

The scratching feeling of her clothing on her shoulders pulled Kenmei from her thoughts and she sat up to remove her shirt.  _ I have to remember to get more sunscreen… I have a few days to do that.  _

Once removed, she laid back down, wrapped in the blanket. Her focus back on the fan, she stared at it for a moment before she began to drift away, mind soon pulled into blackness. 

…

The loud sound of a door banging in the house pulled her from sleep with a start. Her heart racing, Kenmei pulled herself to sit up, glancing around nervously, until her eyes landed on a figure in her room. She jumped so violently she almost fell off her bed, clutching the blankets and forcing her body up against her headboard. “Who is that!?” Squinting as the lights flicked on, her father glared at her from her bedroom door, anger plain on his face. He stood still and the presence he gave off was threatening, and Kenmei knew that something bad was going to happen. 

As if it were a shield, she pulled her blanket tightly around herself, trying to calm her trembling body. “What do you want? Why would you just barge into my room?” Keneiji moved to cross his arms, taking a few steps forward. “You were gone all night.” Kenmei nodded, glancing around her room nervously, as if looking for something to defend herself with. “Yeah, I texted you and told you I was going to be.” Her fear subsiding, she began to grow angry, glaring right back at him. 

“I want to know where you were. You’re gone all day, every day, and the few times I see you, you have this stupid happy look on your face.” His voice was firm and loud enough to nearly shake the room. Kenmei looked away from him, trying to control her fear. “It’s none of your business. I’m an adult, I can do what I want to without having to answer to you.” His glare only darkened, though he didn’t advance. “You’ve met someone, haven’t you? A boy?” 

Kenmei was unable to stop her face from flushing, turning her head away more to try and hide it from him. The uncomfortable and guilty look on her face gave her away and Keneiji sighed, reaching up to rub his face. “You’re kidding me… And you think it’s okay to just hide this?” Kenmei shifted herself to be at the edge of her bed, placing her feet on the floor. “What does it matter to you? You’ve never cared about anything I do. Just leave me alone.” 

“So what, now you’re off spending the night with him? What do you think you’re going to do when you get pregnant, huh?!” His voice only continued to rise in volume, and Kenmei pulled the blanket up over the back of her head. She tried to hide the dark red color of her face, feeling her stomach begin to squirm. “T-that’s not even possible! Mind your own business!” Kenmei tried to back away as Keneiji made his way over, but she couldn’t get back fast enough. He grabbed her by the arm, yanking her painfully to her feet. 

“It is possible!” He held onto her arm tightly so she couldn’t get away. Kenmei kept her face turned to the side, eyes clenched shut tightly. If she just let it happen, it would be over sooner, and he would leave her alone.  _ Just deal with it a little longer… he’ll stop soon.  _ She thought to herself, doing everything she could to hold back her tears, even as he gripped both of her arms tightly. 

“How do you think I ended up with you and your shithead brother? It does happen, even if you take measures to make sure it doesn’t!” Kenmei felt as if she might vomit as he shook her while he spoke, having to open her eyes to glare at something nearby. A gasp left her lips as he gripped her face, forcing her to look at him. “I’m not going to take care of you and some little fucker. If you have a boy you’re seeing, then fine. But I’m sick of your part of keeping up the house not being done before you leave! If you don’t want to do it, then pay for a maid!” 

Kenmei couldn’t help but to give an exasperated, sharp laugh, risking a glare up at him. “Your priorities sure are on point. Like I said, I’m an adult and I can do what I want! Now let me go and get out of my face!” She tried to display confidence, but her voice cracked and withered as his glare only became more intense. His grip tightening on her arms, Kenmei winced and cowered into herself, sobbing as she brought her hands up to hide her face. “Please just let me go!” 

Roughly, Keneiji pushed her back to sit on the bed before he turned to leave. “You’re so pathetic. How anyone could give a shit about you is beyond my understanding.” He slammed the door loudly as he left. Kenmei was quick to stand up and run over to the door, locking it to prevent any further intrusion. Sobbing and leaning on the door, she sunk down to the floor, trying to recover herself. After a moment of calming, she began to process what he had said, unable to help herself from finding some humor in it. 

‘That’s not even possible,’ she had said, and it was a statement more true than Keneiji could ever understand. 


	9. A Piece of Myself

Kenmei spent four days in isolation, avoiding her father the best she could and keeping her door locked. It was a boring and lonely time, and she wondered how she had ever done it before she met Judar. When she wasn’t laying on her bed daydreaming, she spent her time writing in her notebook or playing on her computer. Chores also kept her busy, but she only did them when her father was gone, still terrified by his most recent outburst. Her arms had bruised from his grip, and she was beginning to grow worried about his temperament. He had never struck her, but his verbal and mental abuse was starting to be too much for her. 

During her daydreams, she had wished that there was some way she could be with Judar permanently. She imagined herself turning into one of his kind, or vice versa, and she wondered if it was possible. There was a feeling in her gut, however, that told her he would not want to leave the water. He was obviously happy with what he was, and he disliked humans. Though Kenmei knew it was because of something that happened to his birth family, he would never give her the details, and she didn’t ask. 

With a yawn, she stretched and sat up in her bed, looking over at her windows. The sun was beginning to rise, and Judar had said she could return on the morning of the fifth day. Having not slept very well that night, she felt a bit groggy, but her excitement to see him again pulled her to her feet. Bathing, dressing and eating in a fuzzy haze of half consciousness, it was nearly noon by the time she stepped outside to get her bike. 

Before Kenmei could shut the door, she halted at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her. She looked behind her into the house, seeing Keneiji staring at her from the foot of the steps. Panic bubbling in her stomach as he came towards her, she gripped the door handle tightly, ready to slam it in his face if she deemed necessary. 

“And where are you off to?” His voice was dull and condescending, and it only frustrated Kenmei. She wasn’t sure why he had suddenly become so interested in what she did on her own time, but she knew there must have been some motive behind his interest. “What does it matter to you? I can do what I want to, you don’t control me.” As she went to leave, he grabbed her by the arm, right over her bruise. Wincing, she tried to pry his hand loose, but he didn’t budge. 

“It matters to me because I want to know what you’re doing, simple as that. Now tell me!” His grip tightened and Kenmei cried out from the pain, her knees buckling. She wished that one of their neighbors would see them and interfere, but she had little hope for reprieve. “L-let go of me! That hurts!” As if another being took over her body, she dropped her bag and brought her hand up, slapping him as hard as she could across the face. Although her slap didn't have much strength, the shock of the action was enough to make him let go.

Taking the chance, she snatched her bag off the ground and was quick to get to her bicycle, not risking looking back as she took off down the road. Kenmei didn’t stop until she was on the outskirts of town, having to pause to catch her breath. Her panic and struggle to get away from him was causing her to nearly hyperventilate, and her head was dizzy with adrenaline. Looking behind her, she was able to calm herself with the realization that he was not following her. She was surprised that he had not gotten into the car to follow her, and she felt safe with relief. 

With the rush wearing off, her head began to pound and her arm ached badly. She could even feel a stinging sensation in her hand, and she flexed her fingers open and closed to try and relieve it. It was so strange to her that she would react so violently, and she wasn’t sure where that reaction had come from. Usually, she was a pacifist, and would prefer to take the abuse and not fight back. But at that moment, when he tried to prevent her from leaving, she couldn’t stand it. 

Composing herself, she began towards her destination, knowing she had a long ride ahead of her. Thankfully, she had gone to the market the previous day, so she had her water and food already packed. She had wanted no delays in getting to the cliffs, and what had just happened had been a major one. It took what little energy she had, and by the time she reached her destination, she felt as if she were ready to collapse. 

With weak legs, she made her way down the side of the cliff to the little beach. Kenmei didn’t notice that it was devoid of life until she stepped foot onto it, and she guessed that Judar had not yet arrived. Placing her stuff down, she removed her shoes, socks and her shirt, leaving her in just shorts and a swimsuit top. She thought it more appropriate if she was going to be swimming with him, though she knew he wouldn’t understand the difference between it and a bra. It was blue with the pattern of scales, and she knew that he would find humor in it. 

Feeling the need to cool off, she made her way over to the shore, walking out until she was at the drop off. Sitting down and allowing her legs to dangle over the edge, she sighed, taking a moment to put her hair up. “I guess I’ll wait here for you,” she spoke out loud quietly to the still water. “Even though I’m the one who’s late.” She scooted herself closer to the edge, to where she was barely sitting on the rock, hoping the cool water would soothe her aching thighs. 

Kenmei brought her arm up in front of her to look at the bruise. By now, it had darkened back over the previously yellowish color of it healing, and she could still feel it pulsing with pain. She ran her fingers over it softly, beginning to feel emotion swell inside of her.  _ How am I supposed to go back home after that? What am I supposed to do?  _ Hanging her head, she began to sob softly in her frustration, watching her tears land in the water and ripple away. 

Not wanting to cry over this, she clenched her eyes shut tightly for only a moment. But, as she opened them again, familiar crimson eyes were staring up at her. She gave a small jump, bringing her hand to her chest in her shock. “Judar! You scared me.” Quickly wiping her face, she began to feel embarrassed that he had seen her like that. “How much of that did you see?” Narrowing his eyes at her, Judar moved to be between her thighs, and she opened them more to allow him. 

“I’ve been watching you since you sat down.” He spoke with an irritated yet concerned tone, eyeing the bruise on her arm intently. Noticing, Kenmei quickly brought her hand up to cover it, looking away from him in shame. Still, she couldn’t cover the healing one on her other arm, and his gaze merely moved to that one. His expression softened as he looked up at her face, but Kenmei could still not look directly at him. 

“Did you fight back this time?” 

Kenmei could only nod, unable to find it within herself to speak. She had been very open with Judar about her troubles with her father, and he had been very verbal with his thoughts. Though they were too vulgar for Kenmei to dare repeat, he had constantly told her to stand up for herself. Now that she had done it, she found herself in a difficult situation, too scared to go back. Judar reached up and gripped her face gently, pulling her from her thoughts to look him in the eye. 

“Good. That makes you stronger.” He flashed her a toothy grin, and Kenmei could tell he was trying to cheer her up. “What’d you do? C’mon, tell me!” He let his hand fall to rest on her side, his arm resting on her thigh. Kenmei wiped her eyes again, unable to help her own small smile. “I slapped him.” 

Laughing, Judar laid his head on her thigh, peering up at her through his bangs. “You’ve never slapped me, but I bet you slap hard!” Kenmei raised her hand in a threatening manner, narrowing her eyes at him playfully. “Want to find out?” Judar’s grin turned into a sly smirk and he lifted his head from her leg, his gaze filled with malicious intent. “Do it, see what happens.” Though she was nervous as to what he would do, she played along, bringing her hand down to tap him gently on the cheek. 

In a dramatic flare, he fell backwards into the water. Though, his tail quickly rose to the surface, sending a huge wave of water at her. Gasping as she was completely soaked, she sat in shock until he resurfaced, his laughter immediate. “Oh sorry, did you not want to get wet yet?” Still snickering as Kenmei glowered at him, he returned to her legs. Now between them once again, he reached up to put his arms around her waist, and Kenmei felt her face flush as he snuggled his head into her stomach. 

“Damn, you’re so warm.” His voice was muffled as his face was pressed into her body, tightening his grip on her. A soft smile forced its way onto her face, Kenmei reached down and began to stroke his hair gently. “I think that’s the only reason you like me, because you say that all the time.” She began to laugh as Judar blew air against her skin, creating a ridiculous farting sound and tickling her violently. Unable to get away due to his grip around her hips, she tried to push his head back with gentle force. 

Successful, Judar glared up at her with almost a pouty expression, obviously displeased with her accusation. “That’s not true. I only like you because you bring me peaches.” The smug smirk that crossed his face proved that he was pleased with his comeback. Snickering at the shock on Kenmei’s face, he shoved his own into her stomach again, soaking in her warmth. Crossing her arms with a sigh, she wrapped her legs around his torso, squeezing him slightly as punishment. “You’re so mean.” 

Shaking his head, Judar looked up at her. He was about to speak when his eyes landed on her chest, his cocky expression fading into one of confusion. “Huh? What type of boob holder is that? It’s got a scale pattern on it!” His laughter made Kenmei blush heavily, as she uncrossed her arms, looking down at the swimsuit top as well. “I thought you would like it. And it’s called a bikini, not a boob holder.” Judar leaned back from her a bit so he could see it better, highly amused. 

“It’s just another thing you humans wear because you’re scared to be naked. But I like it, it’s cool.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you trying to tell me something?” 

Kenmei shook her head, her face flushing darker as she grew confused. “What do you mean?” Judar looked down at her shorts, bringing one of his arms around to the front. Sticking a finger under the rim, he pulled them back from her body, peering inside to see that she was wearing bottoms that matched the top. “Woah, they match!” Kenmei slapped his hand away gently in embarrassment. “Judar! Don’t just pull my shorts down like that!” 

Judar chuckled, swimming back from her a bit as he brought his arms back down into the water. “What? I didn’t pull them off.” Kenmei was about to snap at him when his hand re-emerged out of the water, holding a small brown package. Looking at it curiously, she leaned in a bit closer, worried that it was a prank of some sort. “What is that?” His own face flushed, Judar held it out closer to her. “Take it!” 

It was small enough to fit in her palm, but it had a considerable weight to it. More like a small bag rather than a package, tied together at the top with a string, and it was made out of a material Kenmei couldn’t recognize. Bouncing it in her hand a bit, she thought it made the sound of rocks or marbles clanking together, as well as the sound of scraping glass. Growing a bit impatient, Judar sunk down into the water up to his nose, though his gaze gave away his embarrassment. Whatever this was, he was nervous to give it to her, and Kenmei suspected that it was important. 

Holding the bag closer to her and over her lap, she pulled the string, careful not to let the contents spill out. She plucked out a small, perfectly round pearl, bringing it up closer to her face to observe it better. Judar moved in a bit closer, bringing his head completely out of the water. “Where I come from, we use those as a currency. The ones I gave you are very valuable.” Kenmei’s stomach fluttering, she placed the pearl back into the bag, digging around with her finger to observe the other ones. Not all were the typical off-white color, some were a pale lavender or blue, but there was another item that pulled her attention from them. 

Carefully, she pulled a small glass vial from the bag, it’s contents contained with a cork plug. She swirled the dark red liquid around a bit, noticing that it was a thick consistency. Immediately, she gasped, nearly dropping it in her shock. 

“Is this blood!?” 

Judar quickly rose his hands up in defense, shaking his head. “No! No… Well, not all of it. But let me explain!” He quickly added the last bit as Kenmei’s face drained of color, worried she might faint. Reaching up, he took the vial from her, holding it with care. “This is why I was gone for a few days. I had to make this.” He pressed a finger into the cork, as if checking that it was on firmly. “It’s not easy to do. At least, not to do it perfectly. But I made sure it was perfect so nothing bad will happen.” As he handed it back to her, Kenmei took it, but stared down at it in confusion. “What… I don’t understand, what is this for?” 

Tilting his head to the side a bit, a nervous smile crossed his lips, chuckling softly. “That’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?” The color returned to Kenmei’s face in a violent blush, her hands beginning to shake. Scared she would drop it, she placed it back into the bag, tying it back closed. “J-Judar, that’s not possible.” Judar frowned, her reaction not what he had been hoping for. “Uhm… But it is. That’s why I made it for you. So you can be like me.” He backed up from her a bit, and Kenmei could tell he was frustrated with her response. 

Unsure of what to say or do, Kenmei placed the small bag on her lap, reaching her hand out towards him. “Wait, don’t be upset. I just… Judar, I never imagined it would be possible. That’s what I meant.” Seeming slightly satisfied with her explanation, he moved back closer, and Kenmei ran her fingers through his hair gently. “Can you please explain it more to me?” She spoke softly, not wanting to upset him further. 

Judar placed his hands on her legs, slowly beginning to run them up her skin. “There’s more than one reason humans vanish because of us. Most of the time, it is because we attack them. But sometimes…” His eyes fell to the small brown bag, as if studying it closely. “Sometimes, we grow close to a human. And we make that for them, with a piece of ourselves. It’s complicated to explain. But it’s not magic.” He seemed amused by the thought, looking back up at her. “We don’t exactly know what about that mixture changes humans, but it works, as long as it’s done correctly.” 

Swallowing her nerves, Kenmei looked down at the bag, shifting it in her hands gently. “If it’s not magic… Then it has to be some sort of chemical or biological change. It must be painful.” Judar sighed, giving a small nod. “I know it’s unpleasant, but you actually sleep most of the time. It takes a few days… We’d have to find somewhere safe for you until it’s done.” He noticed her hands were trembling and he brought his up, gripping onto hers firmly to try and ease her nerves. 

“Mei, this isn’t something my kind takes lightly. Sometimes, we imprint on humans. And as embarrassing as it is for me to admit to myself, that’s what happened. But if you don’t want to do it, then I get it.” He laid his chin on her knee, and Kenmei could see on his expression that he was very reluctant to admit any of this. It was hard for him, and she could only imagine his level of frustration. She pulled one of her hands away from his gingerly, reaching over to run her fingers through his hair. 

“You know what’s funny? I had actually daydreamed about something like this the past few days, wondering if it was possible. There’s nothing for me here, but… I need a few days to think about it. Is that okay?” She let her hand fall to rest on his cheek, and he turned his face into it, his lips pressing against her palm. He stared at the cliff wall, his gaze focused and concentrating on his thoughts. His brow was furrowed in contemplation, and Kenmei wondered what he was thinking. 

After a few silent moments, he looked back up at her, a weary smile on his face. “Fine. But I’d need you to decide soon. I’m at the shore too often now. I could be noticed.” Kenmei nodded, leaning back to place the small bag on the shore. Carefully, she slipped herself into the water, trusting him to hold onto her. Keeping her close, he moved away from the rocks, his mood beginning to lighten at her joining him in the water. “I like this better than sitting on the rocks.” 

With a smile, Kenmei leaned up to kiss him softly, her mind and heart racing at the thought that he wanted her to be with him. She felt both blessed and terrified, but her love for him swelled as he deepened the kiss, pulling her closer. 

So lost in the passion, neither of them noticed the peering eyes over the edge of the cliff, or the bright light of a camera flash. 


	10. Betrayal

Kenmei swirled the contents of the small vial around as she held it up above her face, currently resting on her back on the beach. The thought of what was inside it still made her stomach clench with nausea, but that was quelled by her curiosity. She had many questions, but she was unable to ask them at the moment, not wanting to disturb him. Judar was currently sleeping beside her, resting on his stomach with his face hidden in his arms. Beneath them was a blanket Kenmei had brought to make their time on the pebbles more comfortable, as the summer heat was making it nearly unbearable to sit on the small rocks. Judar enjoyed the blanket greatly, though he complained many times that the fleece got stuck in his scales that lined his back. 

Sitting up, she took a moment to observe him, watching as his back moved with his steady breathing. He had seemed exhausted that day, and Kenmei wondered if making the contents of the bottle had taken much of his energy. Another question she would have to ask when he woke up. Not wanting to disturb him, she stood carefully, walking over to the edge of the water to think. Once again staring at the glass vial in her hands, her mind began to race with thoughts of what would happen if she drank it. Would she really end up as one of his kind? Was this some type of trick with malicious intent? 

Judar had seemed so sincere when he had given it too her, nothing like his typical snarky attitude, and she felt that he was being genuine. He wanted her to be with him in the water, and taking this was the only way that would happen. What she had said before was true. There was nothing for her on land anymore, but the thought still terrified her. Could she really adjust to a completely different world like that? Would she gain all their abilities, or would she have handicaps? Frustrated with these confusing thoughts, she reached up and rubbed her face, trying to calm down. She would be able to ask in time, once he was awake. 

Suddenly, the familiar sound of a vehicle reached Kenmei’s ears and she turned, looking up at the top of the cliffs. It was the loud guttural sound of a large truck, and she felt her stomach begin to churn as she heard it suddenly cut off, as if someone had turned off the engine. Panicking as she could hear voices, she shoved the vial into her shorts pocket and ran back over to Judar. Shaking him, she spoke in a hushed voice. “Judar! Wake up, you have to get in the water!” 

He seemed irritated as he was pulled from sleep, not hearing her words in his groggy state. Lifting his head to look at her, he didn’t see the figures appearing at the edge of the cliff. “Mei, let me sleep-” 

“Don’t move!” 

With a shriek, Kenmei fell to sit, looking up at who had yelled at them, her body frozen in fear. Along the cliff, there were six men standing at different intervals, all with guns pointed down at them. Her heart racing, she could see Judar slowly rising himself up onto his arms from the corner of her eye, one of his hands moving to grip onto her leg tightly. “Mei, what is this?” Swallowing hard, Kenmei looked down at his hand, noticing that his scales were raised. “I-I don’t know-”

“I said don’t move! Get back on your stomach, animal, and put your hands on the back of your head!” The same voice yelled, pulling both of their attention back to the top of the cliffs. Judar did as he was told, though Kenmei could feel that he was ready to take off at any second. She spoke quietly, her body beginning to tremble. “Judar, just go…” He turned his head to look at her. “They’ll shoot you. They’ll do anything to get me. You just need to stay back.” 

Eyes beginning to well with tears, she gathered her courage, moving to be on her knees. “N-no, I can’t let them hurt you.” Judar hissed her name as she stood, but she ignored him, keeping her hands raised. “Please, what’s going on?” She called up to the men on the cliff, watching as ropes and a long ladder began to appear down the side of the cliff, moved by more men. She received no response, but her heart skipped a beat as she noticed a familiar figure come into view. 

Unable to control her sobbing as she realized it was her father, she began to feel rage build within her, moving to stand in front of Judar. “Dad, you tell me what this is! Now!” Though she tried to sound confident and demanding, her voice came out meek and trembling. The smirk on Keneiji’s face told her he was not afraid, looking behind him and waving his hand down towards them. Instantly, men came down the ropes and the ladder, and they were once again screamed at to not move. 

Before Kenmei could even think, she was grabbed and thrown out of the way, landing hard on the rocks. The bump to her head made her dizzy, and she struggled to sit up, vision blurry as she tried to focus on what was happening in front of her. Judar was being restrained by at least five men, but he was no longer following orders. He was flailing and hissing in an animalistic way that Kenmei had never seen before. Any part of him that was human seemed to be gone, and she gasped as he broke free and tackled one of the men to the floor, sinking his teeth into the victim’s neck. 

“Restrain it or cut the hair off before it gets away!” Keneiji called from his safe place on the cliff’s edge, watching with amusement. Following direction, one of the men grabbed Judar by the braid while he was distracted, pulling a knife from its sheath resting on his hip. Panicked that they were going to stab him, Kenmei stood and ran towards them, but was quickly restrained with her arms twisted behind her back. She screamed out in pain but was unable to struggle, her arm on the verge of breaking. “No, don’t hurt him!” 

The sound of her voice seemed to pull Judar back into sanity just long enough for him to be overpowered, forced down into the blood soaked rocks with his arms and tail successfully restrained. She was able to catch his gaze for a moment before the man holding his hair placed a foot on his head, screaming at him to keep still with heaving, exhausted breaths. Pulling the hair taut, he brought the serrated blade of the knife to the base of Judar’s skull. He began to saw at the thick clump of hair right above the fabric Judar used to tie it, and Kenmei could only watch in horror as his entire braid was cut loose. 

Putting the knife away, the man began to head towards the cliff side, starting up the ladder with the hair slung over his shoulder. Keneiji gave a few small claps, his voice booming across the now quiet area. “Great job, gentlemen. Now get that thing up here so we can go. The scales we will have to harvest on site.” The man holding Kenmei released her roughly, and her weak knees collapsed, sending her to the ground. She looked back up as Judar was hauled up, and Kenmei felt her heart break at the utterly defeated expression on his face. He was panting heavily, and she couldn’t tell if the blood that covered him was his own, or from the many men he had injured. 

As the men began to take him towards the ropes that hung down the cliff wall, Judar’s wounded gaze landed on Kenmei. She could see the accusation of betrayal in his eyes and she shook her head, forcing herself to her feet. “No! Dad, you have to let him go!” 

Keneiji looked down at her, his expression and body posture only expressing how proud he was for the great job he had done. “Thank you for showing me this creature, Kenmei. It’s worth triple the amount your mother gave you, but don’t expect to see a penny of it.” The men holding Judar began to gripe again as he started to struggle. Though, he was so far from the water by now that even if he did get away, it would be pointless. Instead of struggling to get free, he got his head loose from the grip one of the men had on his hair. 

Leaning his head back, he let out an ungodly high pitched screech that immediately sent almost everyone to their knees, including Kenmei. Covering her ears, she tried to focus her vision, but the sound made her head spin. It was stopped as one of the men covered Judar’s mouth, though he quickly realized his mistake as Judar sunk his teeth into it. 

“Give it the shot already! It will screech like that the whole time if you don’t! We don’t need its little friends hearing that racket.” Keneiji called from the cliffs, also recovering from the sound. As Judar was distracted in attacking the man who had tried to silence him, another pulled a syringe from his pocket. Flicking off the plastic cover on the needle, he stabbed it into the bare skin of Judar’s side, pushing the plunger down to the base. Immediately after the liquid entered his body, Judar began to grow limp, his head falling forward as his struggles ceased. 

As they tied him to ropes to haul him up the cliff, Kenmei gathered her energy and climbed back up the side where the path was, panting heavily by the time she reached the top. She ran over to her father, instantly falling to her knees at his feet. “Please, please let him go! You can’t do this to him!” Keneiji took a step back, as if her presence disgusted him. “Pathetic, that you would beg for the life of an animal.” Kenmei’s sobbing resumed, watching in horror as Judar’s limp body appeared over the edge of the cliff. 

They dragged him by the tail as if he were a dead fish, picking him up and tossing him into the back of a large truck. Kenmei saw that his arms were bound with rope, but she was unable to see the extent of the damage done to his body. “He’s not an animal! How could you do something like this?!” She felt that familiar fear course through her as Keneiji glared down at her, and she cowered down into herself. 

“It is an animal. Did you not see how it ripped into those men down there? It has no feeling or thoughts in its mind besides animalistic urges. Even you! Do you think it loves you? Pathetic. All it wants is to use you for reproduction, and then it will eat you.” Keneiji walked over, kneeling down. He grabbed her by the face and forced her to look at him, his grip so tight it caused Kenmei to wince. “You’re filth. And because of all the trouble you caused, I’m going to pluck out its scales while it’s awake. It’ll feel everything, and it will think of how you betrayed it.”

Kenmei was frozen in horror at the thought, unable to understand how he could be so cruel. “How do you even know about his kind?” She forced herself to her feet, standing just as he did. “How do you know about them!?” 

Keneiji sighed, adjusting his clothing. “How do you think I make so much money? Or, how do you think this town is surviving? By profits from farming? Well, I guess it is technically a type of farming.” He began to head towards the truck, all his men gathered in other vehicles, being alive, injured or dead. “It’s their fault for being too stubborn of a creature to leave their home that’s nearby. So we use them, their hair and their scales, for profit. When we are able to catch them.” 

Unable to move a single muscle, Kenmei could only watch as he got into the truck and it drove away. There was the loud sound of squeaking metal as the truck purposely ran over her bike that was laid out on the grass, crushing it. Feeling as if all of her energy was sucked out of her, she fell back to her knees, watching the vehicles leave. She was so weak and useless, unable to do anything to save him. 

Hugging herself tightly, she began to sob violently, her entire body heaving with her sorrow. 


	11. A Goal

At some point, Kenmei must have passed out, because she awoke laying in the grass. The soft green blades tickled her nose, pulling her mind from blackness. Slowly, she pushed herself to sit up, though her mind immediately began to swim. Nausea attacked her and she doubled over, unable to help herself from retching. Her stomach now empty, she rose to her feet, feeling as if her entire body was sore and aching. Taking a moment to glance around, she noticed that it was dusk, so hours must have passed since she lost consciousness. 

It was a silent, beautiful evening with a cool breeze, which only further irritated Kenmei’s eyes. Reaching up, she rubbed them with the side of her hand, feeling as if she had completely dried herself of tears. Her chest ached as if her heart was broken and she found it difficult to breathe. Mind numb, she made her way over to her ruined bicycle, nudging it with her foot. It was destroyed, and there was no possible way for her to ride it home. 

Her eyes trailed the tire tracks that led down the grassy hill and onto the dirt road until they vanished from sight over the hill. Where they went, she did not know, but the thought of trying to follow them seemed pointless to her. It would be dark by the time she reached town, and then she had no idea where they even kept their prisoners. She felt empty and hopeless at the situation, and she felt the urge to just lay in the grass and die of a broken heart. 

Just as she thought she was going to collapse again, she heard the sound of a voice. At first it was soft, then it grew into a loud calling in a familiar foreign language. Feeling as if her body was flooded with new found energy, she ran back over to the edge of the cliff, looking down into the still pool of water. There was a head poking out of the water, calling out to Judar. The language and accent confirmed to Kenmei that it was one of Judar’s kind, and she quickly began to make her way down the cliff. “H-hey, wait!” 

By the time she reached the water’s edge, the creature in the water was far back, almost to the point of leaving. Kenmei couldn’t make out much of his features, but she could see that he was staring at her intently. Panting and exhausted, Kenmei leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. “Wait, please-” After recovering for a moment, she looked back up, gasping in shock as the head was now very close to her. Observing him for a moment, she found that his features were just as gorgeous as Judar’s, except for a large scar that covered half of his face and down what Kenmei could see of his neck. 

Though, unlike the curiosity Judar showed when they first met, this man glared at her. It was so dark that Kenmei felt the need to take a step back, worried that he would attack her. “W-what’s your name?” She tried to speak through a dry throat, moving her arms to hug herself against the chill of the evening. He sneered at her, glare only growing more intense. “It’s Hakuryuu, though I don’t think it matters.” His accent was much thicker than Judar’s, but she was able to understand him easily enough. “We heard Judar call. Where is he?” 

Kenmei felt a new hole rip into her chest and she hung her head, fighting back new tears. “He was taken…” With a frustrated sigh, Hakuryuu ran a blue scaled hand through his hair. “I told him coming here every day was a mistake.” Kenmei looked back down at him, feeling intimidated by his glare. His eyes were a brilliant blue, though the one on his left side was clouded over, and it occurred to her that he must have been blinded with the scarring. 

“He told you about me?” Kenmei’s voice trembled, though she did her best to keep her composure. Hakuryuu nodded, his intense look softening a bit as he observed her. “Yes. I’m like… his brother, basically. He had to tell me, though I was one of the few in the family he did. He had to get approval to make you that potion.” At the mention of it, Kenmei quickly moved her hand down to her pocket. Instead of the firmness of the glass vial, she was met with a wet feeling. The crunching of glass and a glance down at the red stain soaked into her shorts confirmed her suspicion. 

It had broken. 

Hakuryuu scoffed as he noticed it, and Kenmei looked back at him just in time to see him roll his eyes through blurry vision. “Of course a human like yourself would ruin such a gift. Not only that, but you got him captured.” Kenmei shook her head, sitting down as her head grew dizzy. “N-no, it was an accident! It must have broken when they threw me down… My father, he followed me. I-I didn’t know he was a part of something like that. How could I have known?” She pulled her knees up to her chest, hiding her face in them as she sobbed. “I would never have let it happen-” 

“But you did.” Hakuryuu interrupted her, not swayed at all by her sadness. “There’s no way to save him now. We’ll find his corpse in a few months or years when they throw it into the ocean with the rest of their trash.” 

Though his words were painful, they brought a realization to her mind, pushing back the sadness. Lifting her head, she looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean? They don’t kill who they take right away?” Hakuryuu narrowed his eyes at her. “You really don’t know anything. No, they keep our kind for however long we are able to survive. Our hair and scales are special to them- for profit. They regrow.” 

Kenmei stumbled to her feet, quickly returning to her belongings to pull on her shoes and clothes. “Then I can do something! I have to try to do something!” She looked back at him as she laced her shoes, unperturbed by his shocked gaze. “Where is the building they keep them at?” Hakuryuu furrowed his brow, his nose scrunching up slightly in annoyance. “It’s on the other side of your town, about an hour away. It’s right on a beach, because they need access to the water.” 

Pulling her shirt on, she grabbed her backpack, leaving the blood soaked fleece blanket in its place. “I have an idea. I think I know how I can get in there.” Hakuryuu shook his head, beginning to swim backwards to leave. “You’re a stupid human, I don’t know what he saw in you. It’s not possible.” 

With one more glance at him, she started her way up the cliff side. “There’s something that humans are weak to, especially the one that did this. Money.” 

… 

“I want to become a part of the company.” 

Keneiji lowered his papers from in front of his face, peering at Kenmei over his glasses. She was standing across from him at the other side of the kitchen table, her hands gripping tightly onto the back of a chair. Though inside she felt as if she were going to vomit, she kept her body straight and posture confident. Just being in his presence terrified her, but she knew she was going to have to be strong if she wanted to save Judar. 

Over the course of two weeks, she had come up with a plan that she hoped would work. If she could gain even a sliver of Keneiji’s trust to hire her into the company, then she was sure she could get it done. It was simple, and quite cliché, but anything too elaborate would be too difficult to handle. Sneak Judar out of his habitat, and though she was sure he’d object, get him into the trash shoot and into the ocean. Without knowing the layout of the building, this was all she could think of. 

Pulling his glasses off and setting them down on the table, Keneiji leaned forward on his elbows. Folding his hands together, he started at her, as if looking for any fault in her façade. “Why? I thought you loved those creatures?” Though her stomach twisted into knots, Kenmei shook her head. “After being gone from him- I mean, from it, I noticed that any feelings I did have were gone. It had been a trick, some type of spell.” She gave a shrug, trying to give off a fake sense of realization. “It must have been so it could use me.” 

Speaking of Judar like this ripped into her heart, but she knew she had to keep the pain hidden. Reaching up and moving some of her hair back behind her shoulder, she gave a sigh hinted with irritation. “I guess it thought it could do that because of how hurt I was from Kendai. But now that I know about what you do, I want to help.” Keneiji reached up to scratch his chin, glancing around a bit as he thought. “Uh huh. What do you think you can offer that we wouldn’t already have?” 

“I have more intimate knowledge I’ve gained about their kind than you have through capture and torture. And-” She pulled out the small brown bag that Judar had given her and tossed it towards him. It landed firmly in front of him, the impact forcing the top open slightly to reveal the pearls inside. Immediately growing interested, Keneiji picked up the small package and poured a few of the pearls into his hand. Rolling them about in his palm, he observed them, surprise apparent on his normally cold features. “It gave you these? Do you realize how much these are worth?” 

Kenmei nodded. “What’s in that bag is less than half of what it originally gave me. Get me into the company, and you can have the rest. On top of that, you can have my pay until all the medical bills from Mom and Kendai are paid off.” Keneiji brought his gaze up from the pearls to look at Kenmei’s face, and she could tell he was still studying her. He placed the pearls back in the bag and tied it closed, giving a reluctant sigh. 

“I still don’t understand why you would want to be a part of it when you were so against it before. It seems suspicious.” He sat the small bag back on the table before he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. Kenmei nodded, gripping the back of the chair tighter to control the trembling of her hands. “I can see why you would think that. But that creature used me. It tormented me, and I want to do my part to make sure it gets what it deserves. That goes for the rest of its kind, too. They’re just animals.” 

She was near the point of retching when Keneiji finally nodded, putting his glasses back on. “The owner of the corporation is here this week on business. I’ll take you to him when I go in today. Make sure to dress in something decent, and not those rags you always wear.” He picked up his papers to continue reading, effectively blocking Kenmei from his view. With a sharp word in thanks, Kenmei quickly turned to leave, running up the stairs as quietly as she could to the bathroom. 

After emptying her stomach, she leaned back against the tile wall, breathing heavily to try and calm herself. So far, things seemed to be working in her favor, but she knew that a bigger task lay ahead. If Keneiji put in a good word for her, and she made a good impression with her pearls and knowledge, then she was sure to get hired. Even if it was a low status position, as long as she had access to the building, that’s all she needed. 

All she could hope for is that the president of the company was as gullible as her father. 


	12. Entry

Kenmei let out a frustrated sigh as she stared at her reflection in her full length body mirror, smoothing out the fabric of her skirt. She had dressed in the best clothing she owned, though she still found the outfit was lacking sophistication. A light blue button-down silk top tucked into a high-waisted black pencil skirt, black stockings to hide her still scraped up legs, and black two inch heels. Though she had done her hair in loose curls and waves with an annoyingly massive amount of makeup, she found herself boring looking. She felt as though there was nothing redeeming about her features, and she knew she was going to have to rely on wit to get to her goal. 

Turning her body to look at her backside, she adjusted the position of the skirt slightly so the slit up the back was aligned in the middle. Face flushing slightly from embarrassment about how tight the skirt was, she could only hope she wouldn’t gain any unwanted attention. Her focus was broken by her father calling to her from downstairs, and her time to prepare was over. Grabbing her small purse, she quickly made her way down the stairs. Before she reached the bottom floor, she had to stop to catch herself once on the railing of the stairway, fumbling over her heels. 

Gathering her composure, she made her way to the front door of the home, catching Keneiji’s gaze. No change of his sour expression nor words came from him as he exited, leaving her to follow. After shutting and locking the front door behind her, she went to the passenger side of the waiting car, settling into the front seat. It felt odd to her, being in the car like this. Months had passed since she had even looked inside it, and she felt like she was betraying herself by sharing this space with Keneiji. As the engine came to life and the car began to roll backwards out of the driveway, Kenmei fumbled nervously with her small purse. 

“How far of a drive is it?” Her voice was meek, but she wanted to know how long she had to rehearse her lines. 

Keneiji ignored her question until he was making his way forward down the road. “About twenty minutes outside of town. It’s just over that large hill.” He lifted a finger to point without removing his hand from the steering wheel, and Kenmei observed the landscape that surrounded the town. “I see…” Swallowing the lump in her throat, she brought her gaze down to stare at her purse. She could see the small brown bag staring at her from inside, and it only made her anxiety grow. The fact that she was putting herself in such a dangerous situation slowly began to swim in her mind, and she wondered if it was really worth it. 

_ Of course it is,  _ she thought to herself, tightening her grip on her purse.  _ To save him, and maybe save others… It’s worth it.  _

Her mind too lost in chaotic, anxiety ridden thoughts, she subdued a gasp as the car came to a stop. Looking up, she noticed that they had stopped in a parking lot, and she had spent the entire trip mulling over useless concerns. Silently cursing at herself for not focusing on her plans, she got out of the car as Keneiji did, careful not to slam it closed. She knew doing so upset him, and she wanted to avoid making him angry at all costs. With a quick glance around, she noticed that the parking lot was situated between two hills, and they had gone through a small tunnel to reach it. 

“Seems like they don’t want people to notice this, huh?” She followed her father as he began to head towards a small building at the far end of the parking lot. Keneiji didn’t look back at her, but he nodded. “Confidentiality is key here. And we will do anything to make sure that it is kept priority.” 

Kenmei felt her stomach churn at those words, clutching her purse closer to her. She knew that was a threat, telling her that she had to keep her mouth shut. In truth, she wouldn’t put it past him to get rid of her in some way if she did cause trouble. That would have to be calculated into her plans for sure, to make sure that she didn’t get caught or killed in the process of saving Judar. 

Stopping at the small building, Kenmei observed the huge steel door that blocked the entrance to what appeared to be a tunnel. Attached to the door was a fence, which stood over ten feet tall and made its entire way around the parking lot. Her thoughts about how stupid and pointless it was were interrupted by the sound of a new voice, making her jump slightly and pull her attention to the small building. A tan man with disheveled white hair was leaning a little ways outside of the now open window, observing Kenmei with impatience. 

“I-I’m sorry?” Kenmei assumed he had been talking to her, which was confirmed by the way he rolled his eyes. 

“Your ID, ma’am.” He held his hand out towards her, and Kenmei was quick to fumble through her purse. Finding her town’s residency card, she handed it over and he took it into the building with the rest of his body. “You’ll get it back when you leave.” He spoke from inside, typing her information from the card into a computer. Looking back up at Keneiji, she watched as he held a card up to a sensor on the side of the building, and the large metal door in front of them opened. 

She followed him through the new opening, and the door promptly shut behind them. Keneiji held his card up to yet another door, which opened up into a tunnel. Kenmei restrained herself from making any remarks about the security, and followed him inside. Immediately she felt suffocated, the narrow tunnel with metal walls and floor making her incredibly uncomfortable. The lights were not on the roof, instead the sickening yellow fluorescent bulbs placed underneath the slightly raised grated metal path blinded her from below. 

Kenmei felt as if they were going to be walking forever, feeling her stomach twist into knots with each set of stairs they descended. If this place was underground, that was only going to make things more difficult, and she could only hope they would go up some stairs before they exited this hallway. 

Those hopes were dashed as they reached the end of the hallway, yet another door blocking their path. After opening it with his card, Keneiji allowed Kenmei to go in first, which was something she found odd. Hesitating at first, she cautiously stepped into the new hallway, which she instantly observed as different than the one they were just in. It was still the same narrow space, but the structure was more secure. The lights came from above instead, and there were long oblong windows along the walls. They were sporadic, but no light shone through them. Instead, a murky blue stared back at her. Immediately, Kenmei knew that they were in a tunnel underwater, and she felt her heart jump into her throat. 

Stumbling back a bit as she nearly fainted from the realization, she caught herself on the wall, taking in a few deep breaths. “You didn’t say this was underwater!” Keneiji shut the door behind him with an irritated grunt in response. “Like I would tell you anything about it. Hurry up, we’re going to be late.” Gathering the pieces of herself, she walked forward on trembling legs, eyes locked on the ground. She couldn’t find the courage to look out of the windows, worried she would see something terrifying. A giant creature of the depths, a shark, or the tortured image of those trapped here. 

To Kenmei’s relief, this hallway was not as long, and another door was breached before they came into a large open room. Immediately feeling relief, Kenmei fanned herself a bit with her hand, just noticing that she was quite flushed. Further observation confirmed that this room was like a lobby, with a woman sitting behind a desk. Keneiji walked up, leaning his arms on the top of the desk as he began to chat with her. Kenmei felt a bit of rage build within her at his cheerful, almost flirty tone and she fidgeted nervously in her spot. 

“Will you let Sinbad know we’re heading up?” He handed the woman the card he had been using to open doors, and she slid it through a card reader connected to her computer. “Sure thing, Kenni. New recruit today?” Blue eyes peered at Kenmei over the desk, and she forced a pleasant smile onto her face. Keneiji took his card back and began to head over towards an elevator. “Yeah, something like that. Her info should already be in the system as my guest.”  

Kenmei followed Keneiji, though she was startled as the woman at the desk gave a shocked gasp. “She’s your daughter?!” Keneiji chuckled, a sound Kenmei had rarely heard in her life. Pushing the button to call the elevator, he crossed his arms as he waited. “Yeah, she is.” The woman pouted at him from her desk, leaning back in her chair. “You never told any of us that.” Keneiji shrugged, looking up to check the status of the elevator. It was currently on the fifth floor, still heading down. “Well, family and work life is supposed to be kept separate, is it not?”

With a sigh, she turned back to her computer. “I suppose. I guess that means I won’t be seeing you after work?” With a shake of his head, Keneiji walked into the elevator as it opened with a pleasant  _ ding.  _ “Nope, maybe next time.” Kenmei was quick to get into the elevator as it began to shut, hearing the woman call after them. “Your loss, Kenni!” 

Kenmei watched as Keneiji hit the button for the highest floor, which was labeled with the number eight. “Who was that woman?” Though she tried to control it, her voice shook, unable to control her anger. Keneiji leaned against the wall, crossing his arms back over his chest again. “A woman I like to fuck. Though, I shouldn’t have to remind you to mind your own business.” Clenching the handle of her purse tightly to calm her trembling, Kenmei kept her comments to herself, glaring at a particular spot on the tile floor.  _ Pig.  _

By the time the elevator reached the desired floor, Kenmei had regained her composure, knowing that going into this angry would only hurt her chances. Once the door opened, she followed Keneiji out, immediately noticing the brightness of this new lobby area. It was made with a high class feeling, marble floors and ornate decorations bringing an uneasiness to Kenmei’s gut. To the left, a floor to ceiling window cast light into the room, and Kenmei felt her curiosity peek. 

As Keneiji headed towards the desk, Kenmei walked over to the window, peering down the scene below. All she could see around them was open ocean, and while she assumed the land was visible from the other side of the room, she wondered how far out they were. From the horizon, her eyes were drawn to the incredibly tall fence that surrounded the structure. There were red signs sporadically placed along this fence, but she could not see them from her position. 

Within the parameter of the fence was what appeared to be a series of walkways, each separating what looked to be pools of water. Kenmei was not able to observe further as her name was called, pulling her back to her immediate surroundings. Her father and another man standing behind a desk were both staring at her, and she felt her face flush from embarrassment. 

_ Get your act together, idiot,  _ she mentally cursed at herself, putting on a pleasant smile as she began to walk over. “I apologize, I was just admiring the view.” The man behind the desk smiled at her, and she felt a sense of familiarity at the freckles sprinkled across his cheeks and nose. He gave a small shake of his head, disturbing the form of his short white hair. “That’s fine, I can understand the curiosity of a new environment. I’m Ja’far, the Head Chairman of this facility.” He reached his hand across the desk, and Kenmei took it in a firm welcoming handshake. 

“Yes sir, it’s nice to meet you.” Kenmei brought her hand back to herself, wondering how someone with such kind features could help run a place like this. Ja’far began to go through some folders on the desk, seeming a bit hurried. “Our secretary stepped out and forgot to give me some papers… Ah, here! New hire paperwork.” He put the papers into a folder and walked out from behind a desk, heading towards a door at the other end of the room. “Please follow me, we’re already a bit behind schedule.” 

Kenmei followed after him, starting to feel her stomach bubble violently with nerves. She nearly lost her composure when she was greeted the instant she walked through the door by a tall, extremely well dressed man. It was like he appeared out of thin air in front of her, taking her hand into his. “Hello, Kenmei! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” He smiled down at her, cupping his free hand over the top of hers. Kenmei stammered to speak, finding his upfront nature to be very disconcerting.  

“H-Hello, sir. Yes, it is a pleasure. Sinbad, I presume?” She observed him, a bit surprised by his brilliant purple hair. He nodded in response to her question, releasing her hand and gesturing her to come further into the room. “Yes, that’s correct. Welcome, please come in and have a seat.” 

“Thank you.” As Kenmei walked past him, she caught his gaze for a moment. In that second before she passed him, she couldn’t help but to notice a malicious gleam in his golden eyes. 


	13. Corporate Evil

Kenmei’s nerves rattled her mind as she went through an uncomfortably long session of basic interview questions. She told a little about herself, her job experience, how she would benefit the company, and other mundane topics that made her nearly want to pull her hair out. After finishing writing down her answer to the most recent question, Sinbad placed his pen down. With a small sigh, he leaned back in his chair, ignoring the small squeak it made in reaction to his movement. 

“Well, you don’t have much work experience, but that’s normal for someone your age. I think that’s something we could ignore in this case.” Sinbad smiled at her, though Kenmei could tell he was about to get into the serious topics. Still, she gave a small nod, keeping the pleasant smile still plastered on her face. “I appreciate that.” 

Sinbad glanced at Keneiji before he picked up a piece of paper on his desk, observing it for a moment. “So I want to talk about why you are here. Keneiji mentioned, just in a passing text this morning, that you said you wanted to get back at these creatures. Because one used you, is that correct?” His eyes moved to her, peering at her over the top of the paper. “This one here. Judar is its name. Mind explaining to me a bit about what happened?” He put the paper back on his desk and pushed it towards her, prompting her to take it. 

Trying to fight back her anxious trembling, she took the paper and looked it over. She avoided actually reading the words, scared they described his torment. “Yes, it did. I believe that it used the grief I was feeling against me, trying to lure me into being comfortable so it could do whatever it wanted. I’m not really sure what its goal was, but once it was taken here and I could no longer see it, any feelings I thought I had were gone. That’s why I assume it was some type of trick it was using against me…” 

She decided to use the emotions welling inside of her to her advantage, hoping it would make her seem more believable. Trying to play off her trembling and rising tears as expressions of rage, she roughly put the paper back down on the desk. “They are just animals, and should be treated as such. And learning that my father works here, benefiting off of them… I wanted to be a part of it. To take from them, like that one did to me.” Taking in a deep breath to calm her shaking voice, she observed Sinbad’s face behind her tears. It was unreadable, and she hoped he couldn’t see through her lies. 

With a small nod, Sinbad sat forward in his chair, taking the paper back to look it over again. “They is typically how their kind lures human females in for breeding. Especially this particular strain of species that has evolved to live more around land and the surface of the ocean. You’re lucky that it was taken when it was, I imagine it was close to getting what it wanted.” 

“I’m not entirely sure what step in it’s process it was.” She fidgeted in her seat a bit, reaching up to move some hair out of her face as she grew a bit flushed. Placing the paper back down, Sinbad grabbed his computer screen, turning it so she could see. Kenmei felt as if electricity shot through her body at the picture on the screen, having to grip onto her purse tighter to keep herself from physically reacting to it. 

It was of her and Judar, when he first arrived to the pool and before he gave her the pearls. As Sinbad hit a button on his keyboard, images of them flashed by, and Kenmei was worried her sadness would overpower her. He finally came to a stop on an image that clearly showed Kenmei holding the vial of red liquid, and he brought a finger up to point at it. “This here? If you would have drank that, that would have been the end for you, unfortunately. I’m sure that it lied and said that it was something special, but it wasn’t.” 

Kenmei was no longer able to keep her composure at such an accusation, looking away from the image as she fought back tears. So much of what he was saying made sense, but she refused to believe it. There was no way that Judar wanted to do such a thing. “What a horrible creature…” Still trying to pass off her sadness as frustration, she glared at the ground. Every inch of her was trembling, and she assumed her trickery was successful as Sinbad turned his computer back around with a sigh. 

“What they do is awful, and many young women have lost their lives to them. You should consider yourself very lucky. In fact, I’m sure you must be grateful to your father.” Sinbad spoke as he stood, taking a moment to adjust his tie. Kenmei glanced up at Keneiji at the mention of him, and she felt only anger as he started down at her with a smug expression. She felt the urge to slap that smirk right off his face, but instead, she merely smiled. “Oh yes, I am incredibly grateful for him saving my life.” 

Her gaze moved back to Sinbad as he walked around his desk to stand beside her. Leaning forward a bit, he held his hand out, pleasant smile on his face. “Now… The pearls?” Kenmei felt her stomach churn a bit at the dark look in his eyes, which was barely hidden by the smile. With a small nod, Kenmei reached into her purse and pulled out the small brown bag. It was not completely full, as Keneiji had forced her to let him keep some for himself, but the majority of them were present. Reluctantly, she placed the small bag in his hand, doing her best to restrain her sadness as he took them away. 

Instead of going back to his desk, Sinbad walked over to a small cabinet against the wall, poking around inside the bag as he walked. Seeming satisfied that they were genuine, he opened the cabinet, revealing what appeared to be a safe. His body blocking the number pad, Kenmei could only hear beeps as he typed in the code. Unlocking with a loud  _ clunk _ , Sinbad opened the safe only wide enough to place the pears inside, before shutting it again. The sound of it locking back filled Kenmei with dread, and she knew she would never get those pearls back. 

Once the cabinet was secure, Sinbad turned back to her, a genuinely kind expression on his face. “Thank you for your gift. Those will greatly benefit the company. Ja’far-” He looked towards the man sitting at the far end of the room, who promptly stood at the sound of his name. “Let’s go ahead and move on with the tour. If she’s satisfied, we can continue with the hiring process.” At the motion of approval, Kenmei stood and followed Ja’far out of the room, glancing back at Sinbad and Keneiji as they began to converse. 

...

By the time they reached the second floor of the building, Kenmei was nearly exhausted. Ja’far had gone through every inch of each floor, and was excessively thorough in his explanations. All of the floors from seven down to three were all research, marketing and sales based, and it bored Kenmei greatly. Now, they were heading down the elevator to the second floor, and Kenmei couldn’t be more grateful that the tour was almost over. 

“The second floor is the most important floor of the whole facility. It’s where everything happens, from the extraction of materials, medical center, access to the underwater tunnels and above service bridges, food storage and maintenance. This is where you would be spending most of your time, assessing inventory. But we’ll get into more of that later.” Ja’far glanced up as the elevator opened, promptly stepping out. Kenmei followed him, unable to believe how much he could talk. “I see. Would it be okay if I take notes about this floor?” 

Ja’far glanced back at her as he walked, and Kenmei noticed a sharp look if distaste before his expression was covered by a wary smile. “Ah, I’m sorry, but we don’t allow written notes to be taken. This includes anything typed or handwritten that is not on company property or secured. Don’t worry, everything will be given to you in time.” Kenmei gave a small nod, glancing down at her purse. She had wanted to take notes, but not of the processes of this particular floor. She wanted to make notes of where everything was, how heavily guarded or secured it was, and if there was easy access to the cages outside. 

Right away, this floor required a card to open the main door, which Ja’far held up to the sensor. As they continued down a small hallway, they came upon a large circular room, with more locked doors and large windows to the rooms beyond them. Ja’far walked up to the first window with Kenmei in tow, though she had to stifle a gasp as she peered inside the room. Ja’far was talking, but Kenmei could only hear a muffled sound behind the horrors she observed within. 

One of Judar’s kind was laid out lifeless on a table, with multiple people standing around them in surgeons attire, faces half covered with white surgical masks. One of them was currently bent over the creature as it rested on its stomach, using a tool to pry the large scales out of it’s skin along its back. As each scale was pulled out, another person gently patted away the blood with gauze, keeping the surface as clean as possible. After being placed in a container, a third person took them out and cleaned off the excess skin tissue from them, before placing them in another tub of some clear liquid. 

Kenmei nearly lost her control, having to look away from the raw skin and muscle tissue before she vomited. It was disgusting, and she could only hope that the creature was unable to feel anything. As this crossed her mind, the memory of what Keneiji had told her came to her, and she clenched her eyes shut tightly to not cry. 

_ “You’re filth. And because of all the trouble you caused, I’m going to pluck out its scales while it’s awake. It’ll feel everything, and it will think of how you betrayed it.” _

“Miss Kenmei?”

Unable to help a small jump, Kenmei quickly turned back to face Ja’far, feeling her face flush from shame at the look of concern on his face. With a sigh, Ja’far turned back to look inside of the room. “I apologize, I guess I should have prepared you for this. It isn’t an easy thing to see at first, but I can assure you that they are completely anesthetized and cannot feel anything. Afterwards, they are given proper pain medication and we inject further medicines into their food to help with healing. It would be counterproductive for us to treat them badly, after all. If we need these resources, we have to make sure they are healthy.” He walked over to the other window and Kenmei gladly followed. “T-that is reassuring.” 

The next room was another hospital-esque room with only one surgeon, treating the wound on the arm of a human. Ja’far gestured his paperwork towards them as he spoke. “Sometimes we get injured working with these creatures. Sometimes they don’t go easily, and things happen. We also treat the creatures in this room if they get injured in a similar way, or if their back breaks out in infection. You’ll learn eventually about the things that can go wrong and workplace accidents, but you won’t be working directly with them, so it shouldn’t be a problem for you.” 

Kenmei could only nod, trying to control her disgust. After explaining the remaining two rooms, which were for hair collection and the disposal of the deceased, Ja’far headed over to a door at the far side. Pulling out his card, he glanced back at Kenmei with a small smile. 

“Now we will go below to see the cages and how the creatures are kept. Please take a moment to ready yourself.” 


	14. I'm Here

The sounds the resonated within Kenmei’s mind were nearly deafening. It was a cacophony of disorientating cries and moans, resonating off the metal walls of the hallway. It was clear that they were underwater, as the large windows along the walls showed nothing but a deep blue. Kenmei was unsure of how deep they really were, and she was unable to think as the sorrowful sounds continued. The sounds she heard were not typical of human crying, but instead reminded her more of a noise a whale makes. There were many of them, all different tones and levels of intensity, but they filled her with so much sadness she felt the urge to collapse to the floor and sob. 

Seeming to notice her discomfort, Ja’far turned back to face her, stern expression on his face. “Please try to ignore it. I understand that it is an overwhelming sound, but this is something that never stops. Working with inventory, you will be in this hallway often, to count and record the creatures we currently have.” Kenmei nodded, taking in a few deep breaths to calm herself. “Yes, I understand. I’m okay.” Seeming satisfied with her forced confident smile, Ja’far turned and continued down the hallway. 

“This hall we are in right now is the main corridor for below surface. Branching from this is smaller ones with windows that show into each creature’s habitat. This is so we may observe them for signs of illness and determine when they are ready for harvesting.” Ja’far gestured to one of the large windows as they passed one, though it was just out to open ocean. He continued to speak about the habitats, and while he mentioned how each was made of thick glass with small holes for water to recycle naturally, an idea came to her mind. If each habitat had a window, then surely she would be able to see Judar up close. 

Taking a risk, she pulled a pen out of her purse, glancing up at Ja’far as she scribbled something onto her hand. Ja’far continued to speak, seeming completely oblivious, and Kenmei was able to get her pen back into her purse before he stopped and turned to face her. During her scribbling, they had arrived to the end of the hallway, and could only go left or right. With a gesture down the left corridor, Ja’far began to walk that direction. “From here, it goes around the entire facility and branches off to the habitats. I will just show you one branch, they are all the same, so no need to look at all of them.” 

_ Crap, that means I may not see Judar’s.  _ Kenmei clinched her purse tightly, giving a small nod. “How are they categorized? Surly they’re not randomly placed.” Ja’far gave a small chuckle, shaking his head. “Indeed they are not. They are organized by color, actually. We can have a max capacity of twenty-five of them at a time, and we tend to have a variety of colors, but we go off of their base… hue, if you really want to be specific.” He pointed up at a sign that pointed down another hall, which was shut with a locked door. “Here is blue and purple. We only have two at the moment.” Reaching the door, he held up his card and they were allowed in. 

This hall was short but narrow, with six large windows, three on either side. Before Kenmei could really look around, she was startled by the lightning fast approach of a figure at the window to her left. The prisoner snarled and hissed at them, though seemed unable to really reach the window. Ja’far sighed, giving a small shake of his head. “That’s a typical reaction when we come in, I suggest you get used to it. The ones that have been here a few years tend to not do it anymore, but the newer ones still react in this way. Don’t worry, there’s about a foot between the habitat and the window, they can’t reach it through their glass.” Ja’far walked closer, motioning for Kenmei to follow him. As she stood with him, she noticed something odd. 

She couldn’t hear anything at all. The creature was pounding at the wall of his cell, aggressively trying to get to them, but not a single noise could be heard. The wailing of the damned was gone as well, and this peaked her curiosity. “How come we cannot hear anything?” 

Ja’far glanced at her before back out at the creature. “Each of these type of small observatories were made to be soundproof. This close to the creatures, our hearing could be damaged by a sound they can make underwater. It can completely knock a human into unconsciousness, actually. On land it is not so severe, but down here it can be nearly lethal.” Kenmei remembered the noise that Judar had made right before he was knocked out, and she could feel her ears starting to throb just from the memory. 

Still a bit fearful of the figure trying to attack them, she walked a bit closer to the window to look into his habitat. The glass that made up the walls made it seem like there were no borders at all, but the fact that there was a mock sea floor right in front of her broke the illusion. It was quite realistic, with what appeared to be multiple places to hide and different types of plant life. Ja’far explained the purpose and processes of the habitats, but Kenmei only half listened, distracted by the animalistic rage of the creature before her. It was a terrifying display, and she feared Judar would react in the same way. 

After a moment of observing the empty habitats, and seeing the other creature as merely a flash of scales inside of a hiding spot, the left the observatory. Continuing down the hall, Kenmei watched the ceiling as they passed the signs. They did not come upon the door to the red color until they were nearly all the way around the facility, and Kenmei paused once next to it. She stared up at the sign, reading the words over and over again, as if assure her that it was indeed the area where red scales were kept. Ja’far looked back at her, curious as to why she stopped. “Miss?” 

Kenmei swallowed the lump in her throat, look back down at him as tears began to blur her vision. “May I… ask a favor?” Ja’far was silent for a moment before he nodded, though the look on his face made it clear he knew what she was going to ask. Shuffling in her spot a bit, Kenmei looked towards the door. “May I go in? I just… I want to see it.” With a reluctant sigh, Ja’far reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the door as if it were going to give him permission. Still, his kind nature got the best of him, and he walked towards it, holding his card up to the sensor. “I’ll give you a few minutes. It’s in the last one on the right.” 

Once the door opened, Kenmei cautiously began to walk inside, feeling her stomach lurch at the sound of the door closing behind her. She looked from left to right at the windows as she slowly made her way down the path, noticing that these kind seemed much calmer. They only glared at her, or peered at her over rocks in fear. When she reached the last window, she stopped in front of it, her entire body trembling as she kept her eyes on the floor. It was nearly impossible for her to look up, unable to imagine what she might see. 

Taking in a few deep breaths with her eyes clenched tightly shut, she gathered her courage and peered out into the water. At first she didn’t see anything, until her eyes landed on a figure in the far corner of the habitat. Floating there with one hand on the glass and his head hanging, Judar’s back was to her, and he showed no sign of movement. The sight of his ruined back put Kenmei nearly into a state of panic, having to grip onto the wall beside her to not collapse. There was nothing left of his scales, only raw, inflamed skin. 

Kenmei gave an audible gasp as his body jerked in a pained wince, his torso leaning forward as he moved his other hand and head to rest against the glass. He was in pain, and Kenmei could only assume that her father had given the orders to not treat him as kindly as the others. Her heart was breaking at the thought of what he had gone through, but she needed to get his attention. Reaching out a shaking hand, she carefully tapped on the window. Immediately, his body tensed, but he still did not look towards her. 

_ He can hear it, but he’s ignoring it.  _ With a little more force, she knocked on the window with her knuckles instead. This time, Judar turned his head, peering at her over his shoulder. His hair was still quite short, just as they had cut it a few weeks ago, so Kenmei could see his face clearly. As he stared at her, his one visible eye wide open in shock, his hands slowly curled into fists. Before Kenmei could even blink, he was at the window, startling her so much she had to take a step back. 

Pain and rage fought to take control of his expression, both of his hands flat against the glass of his habitat. Quickly, Kenmei moved back to the window, dropping her purse to allow her closer access. She was no longer able to control her tears, hardly able to stand the sight of him. He had grown thinner, as if he had been refusing to eat all this time, and his torso was covered with wounds and bruises. She was unsure if they were from when he was captured, or if he had gained them while fighting against the people here at one point. The urge to caress him, to comfort him and tell him it would be okay was overwhelming, but she knew it wasn’t possible. Instead, there was only one thing she could do, and she had scribbled it on her hand. 

Placing her hand against the glass of the window, she watched as Judar’s glare turned to it, his expression instantly softening. He studied it closely, bringing himself in closer to see it better. Though she couldn’t hear him, she watched as he narrowed his eyes and tried to mouth the words. His eyes soon flashed to her face in realization, and it was obvious that he remembered what Kenmei had taught him. A few weeks of their time together had been spent learning human letters and phrases, and Kenmei was thankful for his good memory. Judar lied his forehead on the glass as he looked at her, mouthing the words over and over as if they were his lifeline. 

_ I’m here. _


	15. Soon

Every day spent in the facility felt like a hell on earth to Kenmei. She had been treated well enough by supervisors, trainers and other employees, but it was nearly impossible for her to keep her emotions in check around their captors. After over a month of training, she was left to her own devices, working with three other employees in her specific department. True to Ja’far’s words, as an inventory specialist, she spent most of her time on the second floor. She also felt as if this particular job was given to her out of spite, somehow influenced by her father, because it was a painful experience. 

Kenmei had to observe almost every scale extraction. If there was one on her shift, she was made to have to watch it, counting and recording the amount of scales that were pulled. This was the same for the hair, working to measure and record the pounds of it that were collected weekly. Over her training, she had learned the ridiculous significance of harvesting these materials and the imprisonment of those that bore them. The hair, she had been told, was stronger and more durable than human hair, as it required a strong, sharp blade to cut it. This was true, as Kenmei had seen them have to use very thick serrated blades, and was even shown a demonstration as to how normal scissors or even electrical sheers had no effect. 

Due to its durability, the hair was made into a variety of clothing items, but they all had a specific purpose. No matter how mundane the style, the whole purpose of it was to be knife proof. It baffled Kenmei, to think that just a simple t-shirt could be resistant to an attempted attack with a knife. But, she had seen the demonstration, and it truly was fascinating. How Sinbad ever figured this out was beyond her understanding. They had made it into such a ‘for the people’ type of campaign that it actually made Kenmei nauseous during the big meetings, where they explained new marketing tactics and expansion. It had been explained to her that it was no different than collection wool from a sheep, and everything was humane as could possibly be. 

The collection of the hair was not so bad as the scales. Kenmei had seen many times where the creature was not fully asleep before they began to pull them out. The surgeons had a twisted sense of enjoyment while doing the extractions, usually making jokes or being unnecessarily rough. It made Kenmei sick, and when she had tried to report the abuse, it was dismissed. The superiors knew, but there was nothing that could be done. The scales were the more important of the two items, as they could be made into a huge variety of things. Though, the most popular among the rich that could afford it was the jewelry. This was just another fact that made Kenmei furious with humanity. 

Now, it was the anniversary of Kenmei’s second month employed, and she was making her rounds in the underwater tunnels to inspect the creatures and see who was ready for harvesting. She had a couple of numbers indicated on her clipboard already, and she was actually glad that it was less than normal today. Typically, it took two to five months for the scales to grow back large enough to be harvested, depending on the age and health of the specimen. The hair was usually taken at the same time to prevent any unnecessary interaction or administered anesthesia, as experience has shown the superiors that too much of it impacted the quality and speed of resource growth. 

With a quiet sigh, Kenmei came to a stop at the hallway for the red scales observatory. Since it had been two months, Judar would be nearing time to harvest again, and she needed to check his status to see when she needed to act. During her shifts, she had been checking every possible way to sneak him out and allow him to escape. So far, her options were slim, as every inch of the facility was highly secured. She had one idea, though it was extremely dangerous for both Judar and herself. There were guards placed around outside on the sidewalks that lined the surface between the habitats, and on the tower itself. Judar or herself could end up shot in the process, but it was seeming like the only option at this point. 

Judar’s habitat was positioned right on the edge of the facility, where the opening was placed beside the electric fence that surrounded the surface. Because it was electric, it was not very tall, and Kenmei was positive that Judar could pull himself up over it if the electricity was turned off. She knew where the control room was, and if she could get in there while the technician was out, or if she could incapacitate him somehow, she knew she could shut it down. This plan also included making sure to open the gates on the habitat, but she worried that more than just Judar’s was going to open. That would cause chaos, and she was scared of causing the unnecessary deaths of other prisoners. 

It would require more planning, and a deeper look at the control room, if she could manage to get inside. 

Using her keycard to open the door, Kenmei quietly headed into the observatory. The ones kept here where typically very quiet, except for Judar. He displayed aggression to anyone else, and was known for being one of the most difficult to handle in the facility.  _ It’s because he’s new,  _ her supervisor had told her once.  _ Usually they calm down when they realize there’s no point in being aggressive.  _

Looking out of the window to her left, she observed the female with a brilliant red-orange coloration swimming around in a circle in the habitat. According to her records, she had been here close to five years. This pacing around the habitat was a sign of mania that isolation and the confined space had a tendency to cause. It pained Kenmei to watch her, though the shine reflecting off the scales behind her long white hair marked that she was ready for harvesting, and Kenmei marked her down reluctantly on the clipboard. 

Making her way down the hall, she observed the others, though found none that were ready. By the time she reached Judar’s, he was already up against the glass of his habitat, staring at her intently. Seeing him like this brought her to tears every time, though she was quick to wipe them away. His hair had grown down past his shoulder blades by now, and Kenmei knew that it would be his time soon. He was healthier, having started to eat at her request. No more wounds blemished his skin, though he did look exhausted, as if he weren’t resting properly. 

Kenmei reached up and put her hand on the glass, expressing her affection the best she could against the barrier that separated them. Judar gave her a wary smile, though Kenmei could see the question in his eyes. 

_ When are you going to get me out of here?  _

With a quick glance at the door, Kenmei pulled her hand back to her, scribbling on it with her pen. Judar moved down a bit lower to be more level with her, ready for her message. They had communicated this way often, though usually he couldn’t understand or read what she had wrote. Sometimes he could understand it if she mouthed the word to him, but it was still tricky. Once done, she held her hand back against the glass. Narrowing his eyes at it, he attempted to mouth the word, though Kenmei felt discouraged at the confusion on his face. 

After seeming to get the wording correct, he tilted his head back in obvious frustration, and Kenmei assumed he couldn’t recall what it meant. Frowning, she pulled her hand back to herself, making another quick doodle on her hand, this time drawing it out. Instantly after showing him, Judar looked up at the surface before back behind him, where the faint image of the parameter fence could be seen through the murky water. 

_ Fence?  _ He mouthed to her, pointing behind him. Kenmei nodded, pulling her hand back. Expression of confusion on his face, he shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands up a bit, as if to say,  _ What about it?  _

Kenmei raised an eyebrow at him, and after staring each other down for a moment, realization came over his features. He moved back closer to the glass, expression shifting to a mix of curiosity, seriousness, and excitement. 

_ When?  _

With a small sigh, Kenmei shook her head, still unsure of when she could accomplish the task. Judar’s expression became worried, looking at his back over his shoulder. Kenmei had caught a glimpse of it, and to her dismay, he was almost ready again. Judar shook his head before leaning his forehead on the glass, eyes downcast. Kenmei could tell what ailed him, and she clutched her clipboard tightly to her chest. 

_ They’re going to hurt me again.  _

Not wanting to leave him discouraged, she scribbled one more message on her hand, knowing she had to leave before she got caught. Judar observed her palm pressed against the glass before his gaze moved to her serious expression, and he nodded in understanding. 

_ Soon.  _

…

Kenmei sped through the rest of her rounds, being sure to clean her hand of ink as soon as possible. Claiming that she wanted to take a stroll outside as a break, her supervisor allowed her some time out on the surface walkways. It was a hot and humid day, though Kenmei quite enjoyed the sunshine and fresh sea air. As she made her way around, she observed the mesh lids of the habitats, which prevented the inhabitants from reaching any extremity up out of the water. Kenmei had seen them moved back many times for access during harvesting time, though the creature was usually knocked out by then, administered a drug during feeding. 

Usually, each habitat was opened individually, so Kenmei knew each one had to have it’s own button or something in the command room. As she walked by Judar’s habitat, she avoided looking inside it, not wanting anyone around to get an impression that she still cared for him. In fact, her feelings for him had only grown recently, and saving him was the only thing that was ever on her mind. She tried to visit him at least once a week, but Kenmei was unsure about his feelings. 

There was a reluctance when she saw him. She could see it in his eyes and often in his body posture, as if he still didn’t trust her. She had tried everything in her power to gain his trust back, but there was still that presence of resentment. It worried her. What if, when she did save him, he ran off never to return? She wouldn’t hold it against him, but she knew that her heart would be broken, and there would be nothing left to tether her to his world. In fact, she didn’t even know if she would make it out of this rescue mission alive. There were rumors of betrayer employees, who on record were mentioned as being fired, but supposedly it was worse than that. Some of the recent employees say that they are never seen again, by family or friends. 

Kenmei didn’t doubt for a second that Sinbad would be willing to put anyone to death who threatened his company. If she was unable to escape, she knew she would have a similar fate. In the end, she knew that it would be worth it, if she could at least save Judar. He didn’t deserve this suffering, and it was her fault in the first place. 

She would gladly give her life for him, but she prayed it would not come to that. 


	16. Escape

Kenmei could feel her heart pounding through her whole body as she rode the elevator up to the seventh floor, a piece of paper crumbled tightly in her hand. Taking in a deep breath, she unfolded the paper, attempting to read the words as they shook with her trembling. On it was a detailed map of the seventh floor, describing each section and room location in detail. Scribbled on top was the notes she had taken over the past few weeks, observing the technician who worked there daily. Oddly enough, the break room was on this floor, so she was able to observe his routine. It was nearly identical every day, and she calculated the perfect times for her to complete her mission. 

It had to be today. Judar was scheduled for extraction in two days, and she couldn’t allow it to happen. She was prepared, dressed in shoes and clothing that she could easily run in if necessary. Unable to bring weapons into the building, she was defenseless, except for a letter opener she had found in her desk drawer last minute. The sharp end was slid into her pants while her top covered the handle, and she was ready to use it if necessary, hoping that she would be fast enough to escape. 

Jumping in shock as the elevator gave a pleasant  _ ding  _ upon arrival, she quickly crumpled the paper into a messy fold before shoving it into her pocket, regaining her composure as she exited. The room was lively with the chatter from the nearby break room, one of the large double doors propped open. Casually, she made her way down the hall to the left, coming to stop at the large window that overlooked the facility. Her stomach churned as she watched one of the armed guards on his patrol, and she felt herself only growing more nervous. 

_ You have to be quick,  _ she told herself, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to calm.  _ Judar knows to watch for his cage opening… Just turn off the fence, and then open the door. Turn off the fence, open the door, and run.  _ She inhaled and exhaled deeply, eyes moving to watch as one of the creatures was pulled from their habitat, limp. It was the orange one with white hair that she had marked for extraction a few days ago, and she felt her heart grow heavy. She would not be able to save them all. 

Forcing herself to look away, she took a moment to glance over her shoulder at the large metal door that was tucked away in a small hallway not too far from her. She knew that in ten minutes, the technician came out for his lunch. Usually, he was gone for about thirty minutes, and returned with his meal to eat inside. That is all the time she had, not only to get inside, but also to figure out which controls did what. She had only a vague idea of what it looked like inside from the short stop there during her tour, but it had confused her greatly just glancing at it all. 

This morning, Kenmei had also remembered something very specific that she had learned during training.  _ Not everyone has access to all doors,  _ she had been told.  _ The only ones who have access everywhere are the superiors.  _ Probing a finger into her pocket, she felt the keycard resting inside. Keneiji’s keycard, to be exact. Today was his day off, and while he had been sleeping, Kenmei took it from his wallet. Another reason why she had to do this early. Once he found out, he could come here, and everything would be exposed.

Attempting to calm her nerves, Kenmei looked back down towards Judar’s habitat. She could see the brilliant red of his scales right beneath the surface, pacing. He was obviously anxious, just as she was, but seeing him prepared calmed her. Glancing around, she noticed that many of them were doing something similar. Furrowing her brow, she walked a bit closer to the window to be able to see more. 

_ He must have said something to them… Somehow.  _

In fact, Kenmei still had no idea how they communicated under the water. She knew they couldn’t actually speak under the water, though they did have that strange language that Judar had shown her a little bit of. She couldn’t ever get a grip on it, as it was horrible complicated and hard to pronounce. In fact, she picked up on the other sounds he made much easier. The high pitched squeaks, clicks, and even a soft sound that reminded her of a purr were more recognizable to her than any of the words he tried to tell her. She quite enjoyed listening to them. 

Her mind was pulled from daydreaming by the sound of the metal door opening up behind her. She stood her ground, trying to stay casual and continue to look out at the horizon. Through the reflection in the glass, she could see the technician walk out from the hallway and head towards the dining hall.  _ Right on time.  _ With a deep breath as he vanished behind the doors, she glanced behind her, making sure no one else was in sight. She was quick to dash into the small hallway, out of view of anyone in the main hall, moving up to the door silently. 

Pulling Keneiji’s keycard out of her pocket, she held it up to the sensor on the door, feeling relief flood through her as it flashed green and the door slid open. She slipped herself inside, starting to feel her heart pounding with adrenaline. Her eyes immediately landed on the large set of computer screens, showing nearly every important part of the facility. She pulled herself from the distraction, looking down at the large command board in front of her. It was huge and had so many different buttons, switches and lights that Kenmei already felt discouraged. Fighting back the tears, she tried to make sense of the board, finally noticing that there were labels along the top of each section. 

It outlined each floor, but the buttons and switches themselves were not marked. On the section labeled  _ SURFACE _ , there was a large switch that was surrounded by a square of black and yellow stripes. She touched it lightly with her finger, assuming that it was the switch for the fence. Below that were rows of buttons, all of them bright red, with a green one beside them. Taking a moment, Kenmei counted. 

_ One, two, three… Twenty-five. There are twenty-five buttons, and twenty-five habitats. One of them is green, that must be for the orange female they pulled out. These have to be the habitat controls! _

Taking a moment, Kenmei looked up at the screens, noticing that she had a view of the one open habitat. Needing to test her theory, she hit the red button beside the green one, and she watched as the habitat began to close. A loud voice from a speaker beside her startled her, and she looked down at a walkie-talkie resting on a small table. 

_ “Hey, what the fuck are you doing? Open it back up, you moron!”  _

Panicked, Kenmei quickly switched it back to green, and the door started to slide back open the other way. Though she was startled and her body trembled more than ever, she was glad that she was correct. Moving her fingers three buttons over to the left, she hovered over the one that she assumed controlled Judar’s door. Taking in a few deep breaths to calm and ready herself, she looked up at one of the screens, her eyes landing on the time.  _ Crap, I don’t have much time! Only ten minutes left.  _

How time went by so quickly during stressful situations, Kenmei didn’t know. All she did know was that she needed to start pressing buttons, and she needed to do it fast. 

Flipping the switch to the fence, she looked up at the screen that showed it the clearest, watching as the lights that lined the top powered down. The guards next to the fence all seemed to notice immediately, turning to investigate. Another voice came from the walkie next to her, but she ignored it, her eyes moving to Judar’s habitat. 

As quickly as she could, she pressed the green buttons at random, and she watched as the doors began to slide open. At first, she was surprised that none of the creatures moved from the water, and she was nervous that they were too scared to go or that Judar had not communicated with them. Nearly ready to close the doors back and abandon her mission, the first one sprang from the water, attacking a passing security guard. From there, it became chaotic, creatures jumping from their habitats, either making straight for the fence or attacking nearby guards. 

Holding her breath, she watched as Judar cautiously made his way out, immediately latching onto the fence and starting to pull himself up. Kenmei couldn’t help but to release a gasp as he suddenly fell, writing with blood escaping a bullet wound on his tail. As the guard who shot him approached, Judar attacked, ripping the gun from him and tearing into his neck. Kenmei covered her mouth, the carnage unfolding before her making her nauseous. All around, bodies littered the surface, both human and non. Some who tried to escape had been shot, while others had already climbed the fence. 

Finished with his victim, but still struggling in pain, Judar began to climb the fence once again. As he reached the top, he glanced around hurriedly before throwing himself over and into the open ocean. 

Seeing him escape seemed to flip a switch in Kenmei’s brain, and she suddenly became aware of a blaring alarm, prompting her to cover her ears. In a panic, she slammed her hand onto a large red button, and the facility physically shook as all power was shut down and the door behind her opened. She remembered, that in the case of an emergency, all electronic doors would open to allow easy escape. This was perfect, as she could cause confusion with the shutdown and darkness of the building. 

Pulling the letter opener out of her pocket, Kenmei made her way towards the door at the far end of the room towards the stairs. She used the confusion from the massive amount of workers in the room to stay as inconspicuous as she could. Once she crossed the doorway to the stairs, she made her way down them as quickly as possible, dodging past people and squeezing through them if necessary. Shouts and curses of annoyance where thrown at her, but she didn’t care. She had to get out. 

Before she knew it, she was running full speed down the main corridor towards the parking lot exit, makeshift weapon still in hand and tears pouring down her face. In her rush, she had made it out before everyone else, and she could see the bright light of the sun from the exit. After crossing the threshold, Kenmei paused for a moment, panting heavily to try and catch her breath. 

As she felt the warm summer breeze against her skin, she was flooded with relief. She couldn’t believe that she had actually done it, that Judar had escaped and she had made it out of the facility without being caught. Though her entire body ached and her lungs burned, she smiled, reaching up to wipe the tears from her cheeks and cold sweat from her forehead. Now, all that was left was to get out of the parking lot and back to their spot, where Judar had said he would meet her if everything was successful. 

Taking a quick glance around, she spotted a familiar car, immediately recognizing it. All feeling of relief faded into fear, and she felt as if her body had become frozen.  _ Oh no, he’s here! I have to hurry, he’ll know it was- _

Before she could move, she felt a intense pain to the back of her head, and darkness devoured her. 


	17. Revenge

The first thing Kenmei noticed was the feeling of her body rocking. At first, it was subtle, until her consciousness began to return. She could feel her stomach rolling and churning with the movement, and the nausea was only heightened by a throbbing pain in the back of her skull. Though, as she felt the need to vomit, she realized that her mouth was covered with tape of some sort. Choking it back, she struggled to open her eyes, her surroundings so blindingly bright that it only worsened the pain in her head. Blinded by heightened sensitivity and searing pain, she tried to make sense of what happened to her. As feeling began to come back into her numbed body, she noticed that both her wrists and ankles were tied together, and she could not move. 

Trying to move her arms, she could feel the sharp edge of plastic cut into her skin.  _ Zip ties?  _ With her arms behind her back, she was unable to see, but she could feel the pressure of plastic on multiple sections of her body, and zip ties were the only thing that came to mind. The sharp edges dug into her flesh, and the more she wiggled, the tighter they seemed to become. Though still unable to move her head due to the throbbing pain, her eyes began to adjust first to the brightness, allowing her to glance around at the multiple sets of legs around her.Some sitting, some standing, but at least five in all. These legs were joined by the ringing sound of voices in her mind, and it was only when a foot nudged her that she realized they were addressing her. 

“Oh, look who’s awake, just in time.” 

“Should have thrown her over while she was still asleep. That would have been a rude awakening.” 

“No, I think it’s better that she’s awake. More satisfying when we throw her over.” 

That last voice pulled Kenmei from her stupor and she looked up, immediately feeling her body and mind swell with a variety of emotions. Sadness, fear, betrayal, all ravaged her mind as she stared up at her father’s smug expression. Keneiji had his arms crossed, nudging her in the stomach with his foot, harder than before. “Such filth. I should have known this was your plan all along, you stupid bitch.” 

Kenmei cried out in pain from the pressure on her stomach, clenching her eyes tightly shut. Though she hated him, she still could not believe that he was a part of this abuse, even encouraging it. As tears began to stream down her face, she could feel the edges of the tape on her mouth loosen, and she felt stupid for the passing thought that it was an annoying feeling. It didn’t matter what was annoying to her or not. The rocking told her that she was on a boat, and she knew that she must have been taken far from the shore, to be disposed of. She wished for a quick end, for a bullet to the head, but she knew she would get no such mercy. Drowning was to be her fate, and she found it ironic. Something that she had wished for a few months ago was finally about to be delivered to her, and she wanted nothing more than to stay alive. 

Her body rolled to the side as the movement of the boat finally came to a stop. Now on her stomach, her cheek pressed hard against the cold floor of the boat, and she could feel her tears pooling against the side of her face. The voices around her were muffled by her own panicked thoughts, trying to think of a way to escape this torment. Nothing came to mind, and she felt herself falling into helplessness, knowing she should accept her fate. Feeling the vibration of the engine of the boat turning off, she felt oddly comforted by the slow and steady rocking of the waves. It was comfortable, and if not for the situation she was in, she could see herself easily falling asleep. 

Her thoughts were jerked back to reality as someone came to stand right beside her. As they squatted down, her hair was moved out of her face by a tender touch. Stomach lurching at the sight of Sinbad, she flinched away, but was struck with a sharp pain at the back of her head. She tried to focus on him through dizzy vision as she heard him sigh, feeling disgusted by the presence of his fingers in her hair. 

“You know, you could have had a really great future. Great pay, benefits, and the security of a comfortable life.” He spoke with a pleasant tone, as if he were talking to a friend. Kenmei gave a small cry in pain as he pressed his palm to her skull, pressing it into the floor of the boat. 

“But, you had to go and ruin it all for one miserable animal. And you know what’s funny?” He leaned in a bit closer to her, and Kenmei felt the urge to slap the friendly smile off his face. “It’s dead. We saw it on the way out here, floating just by the facility.” 

Kenmei could only stare up at him in shock. She couldn’t tell if he was lying or not by his expression, but it didn’t matter. She had seen Judar be shot, and it was very possible that it had been fatal. Grief suffocating her, she began to struggle, pushing his hand off of her head and pulling against her restraints. She could feel the plastic cut her and the warm feeling of blood coat her skin. Obviously irritated by her outburst, Sinbad stood. Keneiji took over, putting his foot on her head and pressing his heel into her temple. Crying out, Kenmei stopped her struggles, gasping for breath behind the tape that silenced her. 

“Everything you did was in vain! Your little lover is dead, and the escaped animals won’t be safe for long. Do you think we’re stupid enough to not put some type of tracking device in them? We’ll find them all, one by one, and you will be the cause of all their suffering.” Keneiji increased the pressure, and Kenmei felt as if her skull was going to crack at any second. Her mind was distracted from the pain for just a moment as she thought she heard a thump against the bottom of the boat, but she couldn’t be sure. 

She screeched out in protest as she was suddenly lifted up by the arms, continuing her struggles. Yelling out and making as much noise as she could behind the tape, she hoped that someone would hear her. But, as she caught a glimpse of her surroundings, she knew that no one would save her. Land was nearly a mile away or more. The boat was small, and was obviously use only for the purpose of disposing betrayers, as red stains covered the seats. Rope and weapons were also visible, and she knew that others must have suffered a worse fate than she. 

As she was dragged towards the edge, the boat suddenly lurched, nearly sending both her and the man dragging her overboard. All eyes were on the floor of the boat, the sounds of thumbs and scraping more apparent, as if someone were digging their fingernails into it. The water around the boat was churning violently, and Kenmei was worried she might fall into the water on accident. Once again, the boat lurched, as if it were being lifted up on one side. 

Kenmei let out a pained cry as she was dropped back to the floor, rolling over onto her side so she could see better. 

“Hurry up and start the damn thing!” Keneiji’s voice reached her ears, and she saw him standing beside the driver, holding onto one of the seats to keep himself steady.

“It’s them! We have to go!” Sinbad was next to yell, as far away from the sides of the boat as he could get. Keneiji and Sinbad both stared in shock towards the back of the boat as a scream broke the air, followed by a loud splash. Kenmei tilted her head to see, noticing that the man who had tried to throw her over was gone. Gurgled cries for help were heard only for a moment before it was silenced, and Keneiji went back to harassing the driver. “I said start it!” 

The man shook his head helplessly as he tried to turn the key and press the button to start the motor, but there was not even a sputter from it. “I-I can’t, sir! They must have done something to-” He was interrupted as scaled arms reached up over the side and snatched him, dragging him over the side to his demise. Kenmei gasped, forcing her body up, able to sit up and lean against the side. Though she felt as if she were going to be saved, fear prodded at the back of her mind. If it was true, that Judar had died from his injury, then those attacking would not spare her. 

She screamed as the boat lurched again, this time nearly being tipped completely over. The remaining worker cried out as he tumbled over the side, and Kenmei could see the red water that surrounded the boat. A flash of two seperate tails, green and blue, was seen at the surface as the man was pulled down. Kenmei fell back over onto her side as the boat came back down onto the water roughly, wincing. So much strength went into lifting this boat like that, and she wondered how many there were around them. Her ear once again pressed against the bottom of the boat, she could hear their wails and screeches. This was their chance for revenge, and with two of the corporate heads in the boat, they weren’t showing any mercy. 

Still, Sinbad and Keneiji obviously knew their plots, and were ready with weapons in hand, standing in the middle of the boat. Without warning, one of the creatures lept from the water, attempting to snatch onto Keneiji with a fearsome hiss. Reactions fast enough, Keneiji brought his large knife around, stabbing the create in the abdomen. Screeching and flailing in pain, the creature fell back into the water, taking the knife with it. The boat once again began to lift up, the angered screams now audible above water. This time, however, they did not release it, and Kenmei only had a second to hold her breath as the boat was capsized. 

After a moment of swirling and tumbling in the water from the pressure, Kenmei finally opened her eyes, her lungs already burning. At first, she could see nothing but red, until the blurry figure of her father came into view, struggling to reach the surface. Before he could, Kenmei watched as he was torn into, the water only becoming more dense with the sickening color of blood. As the pain in her chest grew worse, she noticed herself sinking, slowly falling from the red stained water into the deep indigo below. Hopeless, she did not struggle, only watching the sun shining on the surface of the water as darkness began to creep over her.

_ I guess, in the end, I am getting what I wanted. I only wish that… I could have told him how much I loved him… I hope that he would have forgiven me…  _

There was no sadness, no pain. Only blissful relief that everything was finally over. Though she wanted nothing more than to live, she accepted her fate, and welcomed the chill that swallowed her.

As her mind slipped away, the last thing she saw was a flash of red scales, and hand reaching out towards her.  


	18. Together

The sound of the ocean waves was soothing. The rhythmic motion and rolling of the water eased tortured souls. Kenmei was sure that was all she was by now, a tortured soul, bound to the ocean as her eternal resting place. She could feel nothing, but she could sense it. The smell of the sea, the sound of the waves, and even a taste of the salty air. She wondered if this is what death was, eternal blackness with nothing but the sound of what took your life. In truth, she couldn’t complain. She found it better than rotting in some fiery hell for all eternity, or singing happy praises in some heavenly plane. 

Kenmei was content with this. She felt it was what she deserved in the end. 

As a new set of waves rolled in, Kenmei felt a new sensation. A warmth coated her legs, spreading up to her thighs before being pulled back with the rolling sound of water. Back and forth the warmth went, synching up perfectly to the soothing sound of the waves. Though it never traveled any further up her body than her thighs, a tingling feeling began to spread through her body. Soon enough, she could feel other things around her, her mind beginning to clear. Grains of sand tickled her fingertips, and wind brushed her hair across her face. As she suddenly felt the urge to breathe, pain erupted through her body, and she was pulled back into reality. 

Her attempt to pull air into her lungs set off a violent coughing fit, feeling as if her airways were blocked with water. Struggling to breathe, she rolled over onto her side, water and other bodily liquids pouring from her mouth and nose as her body did its best to expel the blockage. Bringing a hand up to her neck, she coughed and wheezed until she nearly passed out again, resting her forehead into the sand. Taking a moment, she let her body fall limp as she gasped for air, her lungs and stomach burning from the exertion. As she calmed, she rolled back over onto her back, forcing her sore eyes to open. Vision nearly black at first, her sight slowly returned, and she was shocked that, instead of seeing the blue sky, she was met with worried crimson eyes. 

“Judar!” She shot up, immediately thrown into another coughing fit. Covering her mouth with one hand, she wrapped her other arm around her stomach, doing her best to calm the attack. Once she could open her eyes, she glanced around her, noticing that she was alone. For a moment, she thought she had imagined it, until she saw him in the water. He had put quite a lot of space between them, his posture tense and on the verge of taking off. Moving herself to sit on her knees, she called out to him, her throat burning. 

“Wait, Judar, please come back!” As she tried to force herself to stand on trembling legs, she lost her balance and fell back, wincing. Looking back out at him, she noticed that he hadn’t moved, but his expression did show his concern and discomfort. Rather it was concern for her, or concern for his own safety, she didn’t know. Either way, it tore into her heart, and she knew she needed to talk to him. “Please come back, I can’t go out there!” 

Judar shook his head, moving even further back. “You’re safe now, you need to just go home.” Gathering her energy, Kenmei crawled into the water, trying to get to him. “What do you mean? Please come talk to me.” 

Staying put, Kenmei saw the contemplation cross his features, but the betrayal he felt must have been too powerful for him to get over. “Mei, I need you to just go home. You saved me, and I saved you. It’s over.” 

Kenmei could feel her heart breaking with every word, struggling to keep herself up as the waves crashed against her chest. “I don’t understand what you mean. I risked everything to save you, and you can’t forgive me?” She was finally able to stand, though it took all of her energy to stabilize herself. “I almost died for you!” 

Judar backed further away, anger beginning to take over his expression. “You did more harm than good! So many of my kind died trying to escape. It was supposed to only be me!” 

No longer able to control her sobbing, Kenmei tried to make her way further out, but found it quickly got too deep, so she backed up. “I-I thought I was doing the right thing! I didn’t mean for that to happen, I-” She was cut off as a larger wave pushed her back, and she almost slipped under the surface. Coughing, she steadied herself. “Please come back to the shore so we can talk about it, I can’t be out here!” 

Her stomach bubbling with anticipation, she could only wait as Judar eyed her. Finally, with a sigh, Judar turned away. 

“Go home.” 

With that, he vanished beneath the waves, sending Kenmei into a panic. 

“N-no, Judar! Wait-” Completely fueled by emotion and grief, Kenmei made her way out into the water. She found that she struggled to touch the sand below, and without any warning, she slipped off the edge of a drop off. The force of a wave pushed her down and her back slammed into the rock wall behind her. Disoriented and weak, she tried to look around, but the water was too murky to tell up from down. Before she could even think about how to save herself, Judar came up from below and took her into his arms, quickly swimming away from the drop off. Kenmei had to shut her eyes tightly as they moved quickly through the water, latching onto him. 

When they finally breached the surface, Kenmei gasped for breath, keeping herself latched tightly onto him with her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Cursing in his native language, Judar tried to get her off. “Damn it, Kenmei, you’re so fucking stupid! Why would you come after me like that, you can swim-” 

Before he could finish talking, Kenmei gripped onto his face, holding his head in place as she kissed him. In seconds, his entire demeanor did a one-eighty flip, wrapping his arms around her tightly. The passion between them was the most intense it had ever been, the love and longing swelling so violently within Kenmei that she couldn’t contain herself. She could tell it was the same for him as well by the way his hands caressed her body and how he kept her snug against him. When he finally pulled away, Kenmei moved one of her hands back to his cheek, wanting to keep his attention as long as she could. 

“Judar, I love you,” she spoke with a trembling, hoarse voice. It pained her to talk, but she knew she had to before he tried to leave again. “I love you, and I hope that you can forgive me. I know I made mistakes, and I know I hurt your kind… Everything that happened is because of me.” She hung her head, hiccuping with her sobs. “They had tried to trick me, telling me that you had died from being shot. I had given up.” Taking a few deep breaths, she hid her face in his shoulder, the cool surface of his scales soothing her flushed skin. “I don’t want to give up on you…”

There was silence between them for a long time, the only sound coming from Kenmei’s sobs. When she finally calmed, Judar reached up and stroked her hair gently, leaning his cheek against the top of her head. “I hated you, you know. They pulled my scales out while I was still awake, and I heard that man’s voice the entire time. He told me that you gave me up for money, and… I hated you.” His nails against her scalp suddenly felt omnious to Kenmei, though she kept still and quiet. 

“But when I saw you that first time, I knew that he had been lying.” Judar continued, and Kenmei could have sworn she heard a quiver in his voice. “You had come to save me. And still, I couldn’t forgive you. Alone in that cage, though, all I could think about was you. Mei…” He lifted his head from hers, prompting her to look up at him. He placed his hand on her cheek gently. “None of this is your fault. It’s mine. I made the risk of coming to see you every day, and not making a move sooner. Stop blaming yourself. You couldn’t have known what your father was.” 

Kenmei felt her stomach churn at the mention of Keneiji, and the memory of what she saw in the water came back to her. “Did you…?” Judar let out a short chuckle, shaking his head. “No, no I didn’t get to. I had to get to you. Others took care of him.” Kenmei nodded, feeling a bit of relief that Judar hadn’t been the one to do it, though she was sure he had wanted to. 

“What about Sinbad?” Kenmei felt her face flush as Judar stroked her cheek back and forth absentmindedly with his thumb. He gave another small shake of his head. “I don’t know, I had to get you to the beach.” Kenmei rested her head back against his shoulder, starting to feel the chill of the water getting to her. “Judar… Do you forgive me?” 

Judar moved his arms back around to hug her tightly, once again stroking her hair. “Mei, there’s nothing to forgive.” Kenmei couldn’t help but to begin sobbing once again, holding onto him tightly. All this time, she had blamed and hated herself for what happened to him. Now, she had gotten his forgiveness. 

But what of his love?

Feeling her chest grow tight with anxiety, she lifted herself back up from him, catching his gaze with her own. “What do… What do we do?” Judar sighed, looking away from her and out at the shore. “I know you broke the bottle. I saw you fall on it when I was taken… My kind, my family… I don’t know if they’ll accept you anymore.” Heart growing heavy, Kenmei cast her eyes downward, trying to control her emotions. 

“But-” 

He released her with one arm, and she felt his hand brush her leg, which was still wrapped around his waist. She could feel something else against her leg that she hadn’t noticed before, unable to help but give a small jump as he grabbed it and yanked it free. He brought it up from the water, presenting to her a small brown bag, much like the one he had giving her originally. Though, it was not filled up like the one before, but Kenmei had a suspicion about what was inside it. With him still holding her, she removed her arms from around his neck and took the bag, opening it. Inside was a small vial, with the same red liquid as before. 

Taking it out carefully, Kenmei looked up at him. “But, how did you-” 

“I had an extra. In case I... broke the other one before I got it to you.” Judar’s face flushed a bit at the mention of his own clumsiness, reaching up to rub the back of his head. “Your father had you for a long time. I went home to check my wound, and before I went to our spot, I grabbed it… When you didn’t show up, I knew something wasn’t right. My kind found the boat first.” His hand came back down to caress her neck gently. “Mei, I don’t care what my family thinks. I never have, even before you. If they make us go live off on our own, then whatever. But I want you with me… More than I did before.” Swallowing the painful lump in her throat, Kenmei looked down at the vial, running her finger along the cork. The thought of drinking it still terrified her, both because of what it was made of and what it was going to do to her. 

Though he was too proud and still had not said the words, Kenmei knew that this gift was his expression of love. He seemed to want her to be with him badly, and she knew that he would not wait any longer. It was too much of a risk, and she didn’t want him to get caught again.

At this thought, she remembered what had been said to her, and she looked up at him. “Judar, before they tried to throw me over, they told me they had placed tracking devices in all of you.” Judar raised his eyebrow at her, obviously confused, both at what she had said and at the change of subject. 

“I don’t know what that is. What is it for?” He looked at his arms, and Kenmei assumed he was looking for any marks on his skin. “It means they can find you, with a electronic device they put in you. In all of you.” 

Judar frowned, glancing back behind him at the horizon. “I have to tell them, then. Mei-” He looked back down at the vial, before his worried gaze came to rest on hers. “You’re sure about this?” Kenmei nodded, holding the vial close to her chest. “Yes, because I saw them do it to one of your kind that was recently caught. I didn’t know what it was at first, they wouldn’t tell me. But it is true.” Judar observed her face as he tightened his grip on her, his hand running down her back. It was obvious to Kenmei that he was fighting with himself, to stay with her or to help his kind. Finally, he sighed. “Let me take you to shore-” 

“Wait!” Kenmei stopped him, pulling the cork from the vial carefully, so as not to spill. “I don’t want to go back there. I want to stay with you.” Judar fell silent, watching her closely and waiting for her to continue. Kenmei trembled as she stared down into it, hoping she wouldn’t vomit. “Judar, the company is going to be in chaos for at least a few weeks.” Without another second, she downed the liquid in the vial, instantly covering her mouth as she almost lost it. The coppery taste of blood made her almost vomit, but she kept it down, looking up at his shocked expression once she felt her stomach was under control. 

Dropping the vial into the water, she wrapped her arms back around his neck, kissing him again passionately as she felt warmth beginning to spread through her body from her stomach. As she slowly pulled away, she smiled up at him, the adoration and excitement in his normally stern gaze filled her with joy. 

“You seriously just sucked that down?” Judar couldn’t help but to laugh, leaning his forehead on hers as he held her closer. His cold body felt unusually warm, and his wide toothy grin was infectious. Kenmei ran her fingers through his hair gently, unable to help tears of joy from running down her cheeks. “Of course I did… I wanted this more than anything. I should have said yes the first time right away, but… fear stopped me. I can’t let fear hold me back anymore.” Kenmei felt her face flush at the tender way he wiped the tears from her cheeks, though she found it quite silly, as ocean water merely replaced the wetness. Still, she savored every touch, knowing that the next few days were going to be difficult. Though the change terrified her, she knew that she was going to be okay, as long as he was by her side. 

“Judar… Take me somewhere… and when I wake up, we will save your kind. Together.” 


End file.
